Abu Dhabi: The UAE government is setting up a new department under the federal courts to combat cyber crimes.

Cyber crime cases such as financial scams, hacking, pornography, fraud, promotion of bogus companies, extortion, threats among others will be dealt with by this department.

"A new department will be set up shortly to exclusively tackle all cases related to cyber crime in the country. Cyber crime does not just affect individuals, but it is increasingly becoming a huge security threat to governments, public departments as well as private institutions worldwide." said Justice Minister Dr Hadef Jua'an Al Daheri.

Function

The Cyber Crime Department will function under the federal courts and will most likely be located in Sharjah, he said.

"It will be similar to the Traffic Court and the Labour Court which functions under the federal judiciary," the minister said.

Federal Law number 2 of 2006, which covers cyber crimes, will be updated to include the role of the department.

The department will delve into various aspects of cyber crimes such as drafting laws and regulations, charting prevention mechanisms and coordinating with law enforcement bodies.

Al Daheri called for stringent action against criminals who make the wrong use of technology.

Al Daheri spoke after inaugurating the third International Cyber Crimes Conference, organised by Abu Dhabi Police in association with the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies.

"While this is the age of information technology and it has become an essential aspect of the daily lives of individuals, it brings along negative effects with positive ones," the minister said in his keynote speech.

The conference will be followed by a series of researches and conferences to achieve the goal of finding the best ways to fight these negative impacts of technology, he said.

Legal framework

The minister emphasised the need for upgrading legal frameworks and issuing more regulations, where necessary, to bring cyber criminals to justice.

"Some of the cases go beyond local judicial authorities as they are cross border crimes. Social organisations and families must cooperate with officials to ward off cyber crime by creating awareness, especially amongst youngsters," he said.

Have you been a victim of cyber crime? What do you do to protect yourself when surfing the internet?