KSIS warns against illegal exploiting of personal data

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 9: The Kuwait Society for Information Security (KSIS) has warned against the exploitation of personal data by some parties for suspicious purposes and violation of privacy, stressing that weak laws increase privacy violations and endanger information security, reports Al- Qabas daily. President of the Kuwait Society for Information Security (KSIS) Dr. Safaa Zaman explained that some sectors violate the privacy of individuals. Despite the significant development of the institutions’ policy in the field of digital transformation to improve services and keep pace with the technical boom, it has been noticed recently that some state institutions and private companies have persisted on requesting personal data and documents (especially a photograph of the civil ID card) in exchange for some services that do not require taking such data, or taking those personal documents without any restrictions or laws governing the application process.

Dr. Zaman said, “Digital development is beneficial and makes us happy. It holds us with a great responsibility as institutions that care about the security and privacy of data. However, there is a lack of clarity as to where this data is stored and who has the right to view them, and who uses them. They could be exploited for purposes that may harm the individuals. All this happens in the absence of laws regulating the process of obtaining data, its storage, and the criminalization of its leakage and use for purposes far from the purpose for which it was requested for.”

She stated that, while the issue of saving private data, especially the civil ID information, has become an important and necessary matter to ensure the confidentiality of the personal information contained in it, allowing access to the data of the person who owns the phone to verify his information is an imminent danger to millions of citizens and residents. She called for strict measures to preserve data confidentiality.

In addition, the Kuwait Society for Information Security affirmed in its statement – “As a reflection of this, fake calls and messages and many fraud incidents have increased recently. They relied directly on the leaking of anonymous personal data. The data of individuals is an integral part of their privacy and their personal property. No person or institution has the right to request it except in an official manner and by a law that authorizes it to do so, while obligating it to confidentiality and criminalizing it in the event of data leakage or disclosure.”

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