• Home

Capital Plans Cyber Patrol

ABU DHABI — The Abu Dhabi Police will embark on a different policing strategy when it launches its cyber patrol next year aimed at monitoring and detecting data threats in the emirate.

“A cyber patrol is similar to an undercover police patrol who gathers information or intelligence online,” said Major General Ahmed Nassir Alraisi, general director of Central Operations at the Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters.

“They will address any challenge online and once given enough evidence or leads, they can conduct an undercover operation online.”

Alraisi, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the third International Cyber Crimes Conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, said the Abu Dhabi Police was in the process of escalating its own Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) internally, which operates under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Dubai Police already has an existing cyber patrol in place. Abdul Aleem Sayed, chief information security architect at the Abu Dhabi Police, whose team will be leading the online monitoring, said the cyber patrol will be operational by February next year.

“It will initially monitor and detect data threats for the Abu Dhabi Police, then will expand later on to cover other sectors,” he said.

Maj Gen Alraisi underlined the strength of the structure in place in combating cyber crime in the emirate which he said starts with the police officer and cases going to the public prosecutor and ending with the judge.

“The special nature of the cyber crime only meant that the steps in combating it should also be updated in order to cope with it,” he said.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE