Data Breach of South Africa Police - Essay Example

The security breach is known as ‘hacktivism’ and this data breach has negatively affected the police service and other individuals involved. In this security breach, the hackers used what is called a 'data dump' where they collected all information from the website and place it on a website that is publicly accessible. The SAPPS website is used by whistle-blowers who want to raise complaints to the police about issues such as police brutality or want to report crimes and remain anonymous from the public. Such people would use this site and they could place their details knowing that they will be known by the police only and not any other third party. This data breach was politically motivated since it has connotations linked to the Marikana incident of August 12, 2013, where 34 miners were shot dead by police during protests at Marikana Platinum Mine.

However, the hackers breached data for SAPS since all this information was hacked and displayed on another publicly accessible site. As reported, “In so doing, the identities of nearly 16,000 South Africans, who lodged a complaint with police on their website, provided tip-offs or reported crimes, are now publicly available,” (NCA). This data breach has negatively impacted the individuals who used the site to communicate confidential information with the police while protecting their identity.

In policing, this is a very effective strategy in dealing with a crime where individuals can use the site to report crimes or any other suspicious activities to the police. In doing so, this information remains confidential and it would be used by the police only. In the event of a data breach, as in the case of SAPS mentioned above, these individuals who use the site are exposed to risk since their identities are made public by hackers. This can put their lives at risk since it becomes easy for them to be tracked by the suspected enemies they would have reported to the police.

This also poses a significant risk to SAPS since the information taken was pasted on bulletproof sites hosted in other countries. According to eNCA, this information cannot be taken down. This poses a significant security risk to SAPS since some of its confidential information has also been hacked and made public. To be effective, the operations of the state security department should never be divulged to third parties since this is likely to compromise its integrity. The enemies can also access this confidential information and they can use it to undermine the activities of the police. This may also pose significant problems in law enforcement and attempts to combat crime. The lives of the members of the police service are also put at risk since their details are made public due to this data breach. This also makes them vulnerable to attacks by the members of the public when they carry out their duties.

However, the SAPS responded by saying that their site was secure after the reported incidence of this data breach. In a sign of accepting the existence of this breach, SAPS offered a statement stating that it was concerned about this data breach and was looking into the issue as a matter of urgency. To respond to the problem, the SAPS also said that it will put measures that are intended to strengthen the security system of its website to be in a position to secure confidential information about its operations.

A data breach is regarded as an act of accessing data or information belonging to someone without authority. This poses security risks to the parties involved. Confidential information should always be kept secure for the people involved. In the event of a data breach, the organization involved can face a lawsuit for violating the privacy rights of individuals who have trusted it with their personal information. Therefore, to avoid this unfortunate incident from happening, organizations must secure their sites so that outsiders do not easily hack them. Read More