Information Security Challenges in the Absence of ICT in Protecting Personal and Organisational Data in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

There have been several cases of lost documents and misplaced or inaccurate information belonging to individuals or organisations reported in recent times at global, national and regional levels. Nairobi county is one of the regions on the spot as many people travelling or working in the city have reported lost identification documents such as certificates and licenses, whether through criminality or negligence. Furthermore, most businesses and organisations dealing with huge volumes of data need help to protect and provide accurate information. Many still need help with the pre-digital data management systems, thus risking the loss of both personal and organisational data. This paper, therefore, sought to examine the information security challenges due to the inadequate application of ICT in managing personal and corporate data and their implications on individuals and organisations in Nairobi County. The target population included employees from Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Data Networks in Nairobi headquarters offices, police officers deployed at NPS offices headquarters and members of the public. The selected target groups were known to deal with enormous data for both personnel and businesses, and the police officers were part of this study because of their mandate to help in tracking lost personal and business documents. Lastly, the researcher engaged members of the public to share their experiences of losing business and personal records. The study employed purposive and simple random sampling techniques to select the required sample of 110 participants drawn from the four groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the sampled police officers, employees of Kenya Data Network and Kenya Revenue Authority and members of the public. The researchers interviewed key informants from the three organisations, NPS, KRA and KDA, to complement the data collected using the questionnaires. The findings established that challenges were associated with the need for more ICT in managing personal information and organisational data.Further, the paper revealed that the need for an integrated system is a challenge to tracking missing identities or verifying the validity of provided information, thus compromising the productivity and security of businesses and institutions. Results from this study provide a solution to tracking any missing documents and correcting inaccurate personal data by adopting an integrated ICT system.