44 arrested in cyber-related crimes: Interior Ministry

CAIRO –23 May 2018: Forty-four suspects have been arrested in multi-pronged cybercrime-related cases, according to the Ministry of Interior.

In a statement released by the ministry on Tuesday, the defendants were charged with conducting online cyber extortion, ransomware, and electronic fraud, along with harming citizens by blackmailing them for money.

According to the statement, the ministry is fighting tooth and nail to crack down on terrorist-linked activities and it proactively monitors the activities of terrorist groups on social media platforms, adding that it has managed to suspend four Facebook accounts whose operators were instigating violence against the state and vital institutions.

This came in accordance with the directives of Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar to combat crime in all its forms, especially those that are related to modern technology, the statement concluded.

In May, Parliament approved a draft cybercrime law, which aims to pose surveillance on social media and limit the spread of fake news, particularly those that incite violence.

MP Nedal al-Saeed, head of Parliament’s Communications and Information Technology Committee, said that he will submit a report about the cybercrime law to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdul Aal to be discussed during the plenary session.

The bill regulates internet service providers’ (ISPs) activities and their obligation to provide national security authorities with information on users suspected of spreading terrorist and extremist ideologies via the internet. It also aims at securing personal data of internet users.

Since the ousting of former President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt has seen growing waves of extremism washing over the society and spawning numerous deadly attacks. Among these attacks was the terrorist attack that hit Al-Rawdah Mosque and left more than 302 worshippers attending the Friday prayer dead in late November 2017.

A month earlier, the Interior Ministry announced that 16 security officers were killed during clashes with militants in Wahat in the Western Desert; the clashes also led to the killing of 15 militants.

Additional reporting by Amr Kandil