RIYADH, 9 May — While Saudi Arabia is close to implementing the e-commerce system, the authorities also feel the need for formulating a mechanism to fight online crimes. A government level training course on fighting hacking and other online crimes with international participation is being organized.
The course takes on added importance as estimated losses of $600 million have been incurred in computer-related crimes. Twenty-five percent of the losses was suffered by individuals and establishments in the Kingdom in 2000. Internationally, during the same period, Net scams cost $9 billion.
A high-level government committee in the Kingdom is tasked with the formulation of the rules and regulations governing e-commerce system and safe online payments. The type of and the means employed to commit the crime and the legal ramifications in the efforts to stop such crimes are among the significant aspects to be considered by the committee.
Earlier the Canadian Justice Ministry had queried the Naif Arab Academy for Security Sciences on the Shariah’s stand on the meting out of punishment for online crimes. The academy clarified that punishment for these crime is left to the discretion of the Shariah judge on the basis of the evidence.
Arab interior ministers have called for a defense mechanism to be put in place to tackle issues of hacking or online swindlers from advanced countries.
The training course on the online crimes seeks to develop skills of the participants to determine the type of crime, its security implications, nature of the crime, software applications that could be used to counter the crime and steps for the safe use of information on networks.
The criminals are sometimes adolescent hackers who commit the crime as a protest against the system. These hackers not only commit online defacement but raid strategic information related to security and military installations.
