Accra, Ghana//-Fewer than 1 in 4 companies in Africa have clear policies on the use of WhatsApp for sharing sensitive information, according to the newly released 2021 KnowBe4 Mobile Users in Africa report.
However 24% of respondents said they are no longer allowed to use WhatsApp for work, while 15% of South Africans respondents have or will cancel their WhatsApp accounts, it added.
The 2021 KnowBe4 Mobile Users in Africa report polled mobile users in Nigeria, Mauritius, Egypt, South
Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco and Botswana to determine responses to the changes in WhatsApp
privacy and data policies.
The report set out to explore whether mobile users had concerns about mobile risks, specifically what these concerns were, and whether these concerns would prompt them to change the messaging platforms they use.
It also sought to establish whether employers had implemented policies on the sharing of sensitive corporate information via messaging platforms.
The results indicated that the majority of mobile users had concerns about various data theft and
cybercrime risks associated with using mobile devices, but that the convenience of mobile messaging
outweighed the risks.
The results also exposed a lack of clear policies among employers on the sharing of sensitive data via mobile messaging platforms, which could present compliance risks and expose organisations to potential data theft.
The survey polled 772 mobile users over the age of 18, over 99% of whom used smartphones.
Nearly 60% were male and just over 40% were female.
Response To Planned WhatsApp Data Privacy Changes
Only 7.77% of respondents said they had already, or planned to, cancel their WhatsApp accounts as
a result of planned updates to the WhatsApp privacy terms.
For most, the convenience of the platform outweighed concerns about privacy risks; with over half
saying they had concerns but would continue using WhatsApp, even though they may have signed
up to use other messaging tools.
Just over a quarter of respondents had heard about the planned privacy terms changes, but did not understand what the risks were; and 11.4% were not at all concerned about potential risks.
For those also using alternative messaging tools, Facebook Messenger was the most popular, with over 80% electing to use this platform too. Over 56% also used Telegram, over 12% also used Signal and 10% or less used Discord, Threema or other messaging platforms.
On whether they were interested in moving to another platform, respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of continuing to use WhatsApp.
Around half indicated that they planned to stay on WhatsApp, even if they used alternative tools too; while over a quarter said they would only move off WhatsApp if their contacts moved too.
At the extremes, around 11% said they would not move to another messaging platform at all; with another 11% saying they had already moved or were very interested in moving from WhatsApp. In South Africa, 15% of respondents said they had already moved or planned to move.
Survey Highlights Gaps in Business Policy
The survey found that less than a quarter of respondents’ employers had a clear policy on WhatsApp
use, with 23.3% saying they were not allowed to use WhatsApp to share sensitive work information.
The majority of the respondents believe they can use WhatsApp for work, with nearly half saying they either had no workplace policy on WhatsApp use or were unsure if they did, and more than 28% saying they were allowed to continue using WhatsApp for work.
Mobile Users Voice Security Concerns
Despite their plans to continue using WhatsApp, 62% of respondents said they were somewhat or
very concerned about the new privacy policy.
Only around 6% said they were not at all concerned about ‘having their privacy rights infringed and
personal data harvested by big companies like Facebook’, while the majority of respondents said
they were ‘somewhat concerned’ to ‘very concerned’.
Likewise, most respondents were concerned about the risk of getting mobile malware of malicious apps on their mobile devices, and the potential for falling victim to a phishing or social engineering attack or scam, which could result in them losing money, airtime or data.
Identity theft was also a key concern, with over 99% of respondents saying they were concerned about this risk. Nearly 70% said they were ‘very concerned’ about the risk.
African Eye Report
