The Standard is reporting that Safaricom PLC faces a Ksh. 115 Trillion lawsuit filed last week by one Benedict Kabugi over alleged data breach that saw personal data of more than 11 million customers get exposed.
The alleged breach is specific to the betting sector where millions of Kenyans had their betting history and bio-data exposed. This includes:
- Names,
- Phone numbers,
- ID numbers,
- gender,
- age,
- passport numbers
- amounts gambled and
- even details about the make, and type of devices they used to place their bets.
“The data, which the petitioner herein viewed personally, was specific to gamblers who had used their Safaricom mobile numbers to gamble on various betting platforms registered in Kenya” – Kabugi
This is the first time we’re seeing a lawsuit of this kind in Kenya. It comes at an interesting time when the conversation around data and privacy is ripe across the world. And it’ll be interesting to see how everything is handled by both the courts, and Safaricom. With this lawsuit the conversation around privacy will be more serious going forward.
