UAE | Crime
Secretary to UN employee jailed for hacking into files
A secretary who hacked into a United Nations employee's private e-mails, stole a copy of her credit card and issued threats, will spend three months in jail, confirmed a Dubai court.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:54 September 1, 2008
Dubai: A secretary who hacked into a United Nations employee's private e-mails, stole a copy of her credit card and issued threats, will spend three months in jail, confirmed a Dubai court.
The Dubai Court of Cassation upheld the three-month imprisonment against the 24-year-old Egyptian male, M.N., who will be deported after serving his sentence.
Dubai Public Prosecution charged the accused with hacking into the 32-year-old Emirati woman, M.S.'s, e-mail, stealing her password and threatening to reveal some of her secrets via e-mail.
He pleaded not guilty and denied the charges before the Dubai Courts of First Instance and Appeal earlier.
The highest court in Dubai issued the irrevocable ruling this week after the case has been with the Dubai court for almost a year.
The victim, who works for the UN office in Abu Dhabi, said in court she was unable to access her private e-mail because her password had been hacked. She contacted the e-mail service provider who reset it.
She told the court that Dubai police had informed her that a large amount of her private files and documents had been hacked.
"I received on my UN mail an e-mail which was sent from my Yahoo private mail," M.S. testified. "The e-mail read, 'I successfully hacked into your e-mail'. Then I received another e-mail on my Yahoo account [after obtaining the new password] and it was in the Egyptian dialect."
Tracked down
The sender's e-mail read, 'I took your mail, saved your picture and other files following your permission ... you have two days until Saturday night to reply to me...' The sender threatened to e-mail the picture and the files to many users in the UAE.
"We tracked him down from the Internet Protocol address," said a police captain who specialises in ecrime. "He accessed her private files and pictures."
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