Cyber crime department faces numerous challenges in confronting e-crimes

Lieutenant Colonel Ammar Al-Sarraf, Deputy Director of the cyber crime Department at the Ministry of Interior, unveiled numerous challenges confronting the department.

He highlighted a substantial increase in fraudulent and electronic fraud operations throughout the year, facilitated by smart programs, applications, and the exploitation of bank links by unscrupulous individuals for criminal purposes, reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Sarraf emphasized the Anti-Electronic Fraud Squad’s success, formed recently, in countering 300 fraudulent websites and 1,000 fraudulent phones.

Speaking at the fifth Kuwait Conference and Exhibition to Combat Cyber crime, attended by government and private entities, including the Ministries of Interior and Electricity, as well as the Kuwaiti Lawyers Association, Al-Sarraf noted a threefold surge in the department’s ability to detect these crimes compared to the previous year. He expressed concern about the rise in accounts promoting immoral actions, posing a potential threat to societal moral values.

Al-Sarraf stated, “As reliance on digital technologies increases, risks and threats have evolved beyond mere piracy to encompass multi-faceted and multi-level damage caused by cyber crimes.” He highlighted the various risks faced by Kuwaiti society in cyberspace, ranging from individual cases of blackmail and theft of personal information to global cyberattacks and conflicts between nations.

Mubarak Al-Abdulhadi, Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee, emphasized the conference’s timeliness, given the significant increase in cyber crime risks.

He stressed the need for collective efforts to address these threats and risks with knowledge and expertise. Al-Abdulhadi acknowledged the success of past conferences in generating recommendations, including raising awareness about information security, encouraging the establishment of specialized programs in universities, and promoting risk management and digital emergency centers.

The President of the Sharyan Al-Sharyan Lawyers Association underscored the importance of the conference’s efforts in finding solutions to global problems related to cyber crime. He emphasized the need for countries to recognize the severity of this issue and adopt the recommendations presented at such conferences to combat cyber crime effectively.

4 risks of cyber crime

• Individual blackmail and theft of personal information
• Digital crimes related to fraud and electronic fraud
• Global cyber attacks and wars between countries
• A technical conflict between countries and international companies