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Table of Contents
1) INTRODUCTION: ...................................................................................... 3
2) SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE UAE CYBER LAW: .................................... 4
STRENGTHS .................................................................................................................... 4
WEAKNESS ..................................................................................................................... 5
OPPORTUNITIES ............................................................................................................ 6
THREATS ........................................................................................................................ 7
3) COMPARISON OF UAE AND US CYBER LAWS: ................................. 8
4) SUGGESTIONS: ....................................................................................... 10
5) CONCLUSION: ......................................................................................... 12
6) REFERENCES: ......................................................................................... 13
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1) Introduction:
In spite the highest level of technological advancement today the world has been
reached multiple domains; such as VoIP, cloud computing and social networking
sites. Cyber law has been defined as The area of law that deals with the Internet's
hardware and information systems (IS), also known as Cyber Law or Internet Law
[1]. UAE is one of the leading countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Moreover,
Cyber law is important because it protects and restrict from any illegal action and
in the rapid development disadvantages appear with the passage of time and
Cybercrime is one of them. Its defined as A crime in which a computer is the object
of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming), and also may use computer technology
to access personal information, business trade secrets, or use the Internet for
exploitive or malicious purposes [2]. As well as, Cybercrime in the process of a large
spread around the world and it became phenomenon facing most people.
In this report, we have used Internet to gather the information. Moreover, the team
members have come together to demonstrate the cyber laws of the UAE country by
the current regulatory, compliance and liability issues in the UAE cyber law using a
SWOT analysis, as well we will make a Comparison between UAE cyber law and US
cyber law. In the end, we will supply some suggestion to enhance cyber law in the
UAE, as well as, for the conclusion we will summarize the outcomes and overview
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2) SWOT Analysis of the UAE Cyber Law:
Strengths
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) appreciates the importance of
cyber law on Cybercrime, and its necessity to stay updated on issues of cybercrime.
UAE is the first country in the Middle East to put in place cyber laws where by the
first cyber-crime law was passed in 2006 in the month of June. For this reason, UAE
is ahead of other countries in the Middle East, as far as cyber security and crime are
concerned.
The UAE government is looking for ways in which programs on cybercrime law can
be introduced in the local universities to bring awareness about it to more people, and
to produce experts of the same within UAE. For instance, Zayed University started a
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Weakness
The law has not been able to incorporate some current issues in cybercrime such as
digital piracy, harassment via emails and cloud computing. There are some legal
consequences that are not clearly spelled out by the law. For example, how to deal
with a minor who breaks cybercrime law has not been specified. UAE cybercrime law
covers very large and diverse areas of cybercrimes, nonetheless some parts of the law
are very well punctuated but with lack of clarity and explanation.
Furthermore, The law has ignored some critical issues relating to cybercrime such as
Opportunities
In addition, we will discuss about the opportunities in UAE cyber law, as we know
that UAE has a great economic position around the countries in middle east region,
which require a strong step to use the available opportunities to improve it in cyber
law states to grow up the levels of fertile environment replete with the business, also
UAE has a stiff law and now the rules become stronger than before, because the
technology has developed. Moreover, when the law is strict, the investors dont
exceed the law in any ways, so their business completed in strong legal. The UAE
Cybercrime Law NO: 5 of 2012, issued by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa
Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2012, includes stern punishments that could go up to a life
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Threats
There is a different type of threats, as we know if any one breaks the law he will cast
his fate, also we know that there is a strict rules in UAE that can stop the perpetrators
of cybercrime, rules mentioned in the Federal law of UAE cyber crime law in
two years at most and a fine not less than two hundred fifty thousand dirhams and not
in excess of five hundred thousand dirhams or either of these two penalties whoever
another person to force him to engage in or prevent him from engaging in a certain
act. The punishment shall be imprisonment up to ten years if the subject of threat is to
commit a felony or engage in matters against honor or morals [4]. However, there is
much kind of threats in cyber law for instance: blackmailer, hackers and DoS attack,
so these kind of threats can attack by getting the personal information and data from
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3) Comparison of UAE and US Cyber
Laws:
Cyber laws in the UAE majorly based on Islamic religious regulations. In USA the
laws arent specifically based on a specific religion, but generally on a good conduct
of individuals. This makes it easier for the law to be exercised in UAE as the citizens
Title 18 of the United States of America Code (18 U.S.C) provides a penalty for
minor pornography and online personality theft (Federal Reserve System Board of
Governors Staff, Office of the Federal Register (U.S.), 2006). This is not provided in
the UAE cyber-crime laws. The weakness of this in the UAE is that some cyber-
crimes like those ones mentioned above are gone unpunished, hence not achieving the
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and protection Act was passed into USA law in 1947.
However, the act has gone through some amendments, which have helped the USA to
take into consideration the upcoming cyber-crimes. On the other hand, in UAE passed
its cyber law in June 2006. This is very recent compared to the USA. UAE has a long
way to go before it reaches the standards of USA as far as dealing with cyber-crime is
Moreover, Cyber law in USA has a law that deals with illegal access to computers,
that is getting access to someone elses computer without their authority. This also
computer. In the UAE law there is no such kind of provisions, and there are no clear
provisions on how to deal with a person who gets the password of someone else
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computer illegally and gets access to it. On the other hand in the USA cyber law it is
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4) Suggestions:
UAE cyber law has a powerful database, but need to be enhanced to become more
rigidity and durability. As well as, not knowing who is the offender is a big trouble, so
we need to upgrade our systems and use the latest technologies available to find
solutions to locate offenders. Du and Etisalat are cooperating together to block any
malicious code. In order to track VPN applications its necessary to have a DPI tool to
observe the traffic source and destination. There are several vendors, which provide
the same material, and most common in UAE are Sandvine and Proccera. Basically it
checks the MAC address for certain application such as Imo, Viber or any other VoIP
application, as well the DNS name and match it with signature that stored in the
fine not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dirhams and not in excess of one
The punishment shall be imprisonment for a period of at least five years and a fine not
less than five hundred thousand dirhams and not in excess of two million dirhams, if
altered, copied, published or re-published [5]. Which means that when the offender
is trying to enter the websites for government data and information, his punishment
will be in this way, and that will reduce the occurrence of any crime operation in the
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future, because if they notice the strict of the law they dont even think of doing it.
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5) Conclusion:
To conclude, UAE has a strong economic base compared to other countries in the
Middle East. This is in terms of resources available and the wealth, and its the fact
that makes it able to grab any available opportunities in the region after the
improvement of the cyber laws in the country, so more than half of population in
UAE is exposed to cybercrime. Furthermore, some gaps exist in the law, which makes
UAE a victim of many cyber-crimes globally. The era we are living in is the era of
technology and information revolution, it gives hackers and other cyber criminals an
opportunity to get new ways of carrying out their illegal activities, as well as sharing
information and strategies. Moreover, this puts UAE people in the risk of becoming
cybercrime victims. Not many people in the UAE are exposed to the internet, hence
only a few people recognize the cybercrime laws put in place and appreciate their
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6) References:
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