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Qatar is making distinguished efforts regionally and at a global level in field of prevention of cybercrimes. The Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in association with the Economic and Cyber Crimes Prevention Department organised a webinar entitled ‘Cyber Crimes and Methods of Prevention’.
First Lieutenant Jassim, Economic and Cyber Crimes Prevention Department of MoI shed light on raising awareness among community members about the protection from cybercrimes.
He said, “Cybercrime as defined by Qatari Cybercrime Prevention Law No. 14 of 2014 is any act involving an unlawful use of an information technology technique, an information system or the Internet legally, in violation of the provisions of this law.”
Regarding the services provided by the department the official noted that it mainly collects inferences, investigates, probes and searches for perpetrators and reach their real identities via the Internet. The department is also responsible for monitoring all that would violate law or security of cyberspace and receives complaints from the public and companies and then proceeds with its policing work in collecting inferences to find out the perpetrator.
Speaking about the types of cybercrimes he said, “The continuous increase in the number of Internet users and the steady increase in the transfer of business to the digital environment has led to an increase in the number of user who may become victims of cyber risks.”
“Hence, we see that most of the traditional crimes have moved to the digital environment, for example, but not limited to, hacking, fraud of all kinds, threat and blackmailing, sexual exploitation of children, spreading rumours.” The official elaborated on motives for perpetrating cybercrimes which include offence against countries, persons, external threat against state institutions, absence of geographical boundaries, financial fraud. He also discussed about blackmailing and its punishment and how the public can seek help in the event of being subjected to blackmailing.
He said, “Blackmailing is considered one of the crimes that many people are involved and it is a crime punishable by Qatari Law No. 14 of 2014. Cybercrime Prevention Law Article No. 6 states, ‘A sentence of not more than three years imprisonment and a fine of not more than QR100,000 or either of these penalties shall be imposed on any person who uses an information network or information technology technique to threaten blackmailing another person to make him/her do or refrain from doing a certain action.”
Upon falling victim to blackmailing do not respond to the perpetrator at all and block him from all communication networking channels. The Economic and Cyber Crime prevention Department must be informed directly through the available reporting channels such as e-mail, phone, Metrash2 or by personal presence in order to initiate search and investigation, he added.
On combating cybercrimes the official said, “Prevention and awareness are basic line to address cybercrime, by raising public awareness of its dangers and on methods of prevention the standard of effective crime prevention will be raised. However, when the crime occurs, we see that the speed of reporting takes an important factor in the success of the evidence gathering process, as digital evidence is subject to loss and manipulation. The department carries out awareness campaigns on an ongoing basis targeting all types of people.”
A total of 397 people attended the webinar which included officials and representatives from companies and community organisations. At the end of the virtual event, there was a question and answer session for the participants.
