As the subject of data protection, cybercrimes and cybersecurity continue to be discussed around the world, Safaricom is introducing a feature that will hide one’s contact details during the Lipa Na M-Pesa transaction, something customers have been longing for.
“The plan is to hide your number where it will display say the first two or three numbers and the last ones and block out the middle, just the way banks do,” said an official from Safaricom while speaking to Business Daily.
Safaricom’s move to curb the use of clients’ data by third parties comes amid revelations that more than a fifth of Kenyan companies shared customers’ financial and personal information without consent.
Read More: 200,000 Businesses In Kenya Now Have Lipa Na M-Pesa
Safaricom’s move is a great one and will protect Kenya’s data against being misused by those who sell the information to third parties such as betting companies and other spammers that has been a concern among millions of Kenyans.
Last month, millions of Kenyans found themselves registered as members of political parties without their consent. It is feared that some of the political parties the personal information about Kenyans from various platforms and registered them.
A survey by consultancy Ernst & Young (EY) shows that 41 percent of firms transferred their clients’ data to third-party service providers.
More than half, about 53 percent of these companies or 21.7 percent of firms captured in the EY survey did not seek the approval of their customers.
Read More: How To Pay For Goods And Services Using LIPA Na MPESA
Kenya currently has the Data Protection Act with a Data Commissioner in place. However, many Kenyans have not gone through the Act to know how it protects them against the exploitation of their data. There is a need for Kenyans to equip themselves with this knowledge.