Amendments to UAE cyber law in offing
The UAE is amending its cyber law to bring recent concepts and technologies such as cloud computing and social networking within its ambit, a senior government official said.
In the first phase of revision, the UAE Cyber Law that came into effect in 2006 will be made more comprehensive to cover newer cyber applications and threats, Tariq Abdulghaffar Mohammad Al Hawi, Director at the UAE's National Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT), told Emirates Business on the sidelines of 'Security Strategist', a conference supported by aeCERT.
The aeCERT is advising and providing enhancements to the UAE Cyber Law to incorporate popular applications and technologies and help the country keep pace with fast evolving cyber applications and technologies.
Since it is a time-consuming process, he said no time frame has been set for the release of the amended version. "There are no loopholes in the existing law. But it is being revised since the whole landscape has changed since 2006," said Al Hawi.
Citing an example, he said even basic usage and applications could open up vulnerabilities in the targeted system and cause attacks. But the scenario has completely changed now when there are more critical security related issues with daily updates needed to guard against viruses and phishing attacks, he said.
A pioneering legislation in the GCC region, the UAE Cyber Law contains provisions against online crimes. The law guards against acts of online crime including data theft with punishments ranging from fines to prison terms or both.
FOLLOWING THE UAE'S INITIATIVE
Taking a cue from the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia among the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries are in the process of drafting their respective cyber laws.
Khalid N Sadiq Al Hashmi, Cyber Safety and Security Executive Director, Qatar National Computer Emergency Response Team (Q-CERT), said: "Qatar is currently in the process of drafting the cyber law. It takes time to draft but there will be something coming out soon. Drafting is a lengthy process and, therefore, it is difficult to set a deadine." Q-CERT was formed in 2005 and has been closely working with GCC CERTs on regional and national initiatives on identifying risks and deploying technology to protect.
Oman and Saudi Arabia have e-transaction laws in place but are yet to enact a cyber law.
"Most of the clauses currently focus on e-transactions. Therefore, we are drafting the cyber law for the country," said Badar Ali Al Salehi, Director, Oman National CERT and Information Technology Authority.