Government agencies team up to protect kids from cybercrime

Government agencies have joined forces to protect children online.

In an effort to combat the increasing number of cyber-crimes against children in the Sultanate, a number of agencies have teamed up to discuss a unified approach.

The Information Technology Authority (ITA) represented by the Oman Computer Emergency Readiness Team, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, and the Public Prosecution met to discuss a single method for reporting these crimes rather than having separate hotlines for different agencies.

According to the ITA, there were 35 reported cases of cyber- crime against children under the ages of 18 in the first half of 2019. These included 27 cyber blackmail cases, three incidences of fraud and five of revenge.



Aziza Al Rashdi, Director of Professional CyberSecurity at the ITA spoke exclusively to Times of Oman about the problem: “We expect the numbers to increase in the coming few years, and we are confident that there are already many cases that are not being reported because of our culture in Oman, with people being afraid of reporting for fear of being exposed to everyone.”

“There are two reasons for the increase in the number of children reporting cybercrimes: firstly, children are becoming more aware that there is an entity that can deal with these incidents in a confidential way, and secondly, the number of children who are exposed to and using social media is increasing.”

During the session, experts listened to grim examples of the victims of cybercrime. In one case, a girl was forced to murder her blackmailer in order to escape from his grasp.

Saud Al Maawali, Director of the Public Prosecution in Al Suwaiq recounted the details of the case saying: “In one case, which isn’t about a child but shows how deep a problem can go if not resolved, a girl was blackmailed by a man after telling her that he wanted to marry her. She sent him sensitive images which he then used to threaten her.”

The girl was pushed to terrible lengths by the blackmailer, according to the director.

“This blackmail put her between the anvil and the hammer, as they say. On one hand, was the terror of the images being leaked if she did not do what he asked. She could not find another way out except to draw him in and kill him. She was a victim, but after the crime there came calls for her to be executed for murder,” he said.

The four government agencies agreed that communication should be strengthened between them. Some of the solutions discussed at the session included having a unified hotline for these crimes as well as increasing awareness campaigns for parents and teachers about the dangers of cybercrimes. Another solution may be to encourage parents to talk to their children about online safety and to train teachers to tackle these issues when they appear.

The director of professional CyberSecurity told Times of Oman that parents should designate a relative that is close to the child to speak to them, “One tip is to have someone else closer in age to the child who they can speak to. This might make them more willing to talk about these issues and even discuss things that are not crimes yet and can be avoided,” Al Rashdi said.

Despite the figure of child-related cyber crimes, the director of public prosecution in Al Suwaiq remained optimistic about the situation in Oman, saying: “We keep saying that the number is increasing, but in reality, we are talking about 35 cases. Even if that is an underestimate and the real one is five times that, 170 cases, how many does that make out of the total number of children in Oman? Maybe less than one in a thousand. This number shows that the procedures undertaken by the agencies are working.”

“Protecting children starts with parents, school, local clubs, government agencies and society. This is a relationship that involves everyone and no one person can solve it, we all need to work together. These numbers are small but, at the same time, even if there was only one case, it would give us sleepless nights because it is our responsibility,” he concluded.

In order to discover the scale of the problem, the Ministry of Education is currently conducting a confidential survey in schools which will throw light on the issue while keeping children anonymous.

Talal Al Asmi, Head of the Cyber Security department at the Ministry of Education, spoke to Times of Oman about the research: “It’s particularly important to take the information directly from the students since they can be hesitant about sharing information about cyber crimes or cyberbullying. They are too afraid of their parents to tell them. So, when we send these surveys to children directly, we can get the real results. This will help the ministry in building action plans for dealing with the issue.”

According to him, social specialists at schools can play an integral role if they are trained to handle these cases properly.

“We have a plan with the ITA, TRA and ROP to help us have a third eye into the lives of children. As a ministry, we are responsible for too many schools to look into them all. So, we thought of asking the social specialists, the Information Technology teachers, and headmasters to communicate our message directly to the students and to supervise them at the same time.”

“We also don’t want to forget about privacy. We instruct schools to teach students about how they can prevent crimes by protecting their privacy before any issue can develop,” he added.

Wadha Al Alawi, the Director of the Department of Family Counselling and Guidance, said that the Ministry of Social Development is also working to raise awareness among parents about the dangers of cyber-crimes, and to keep families close-knit enough to discuss these issues in depth.

Five tips on how to protect your children online

Muscat: As more and more children begin to use the internet, it is important for parents to protect their children from the dangers online.

Oman’s Information Technology Authority has issued guidelines on what parents could do to ensure their children’s safety.

1. Teach your kids how to use children’s search engines that will screen out unsuitable information.

2. Monitor and adjust how your children use the internet through control settings.

3. Advise children against using web cameras.

4. Learn all of your children’s private passwords.

5. Keep your children away from websites designed to meet new people.