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British hacker faces charge of damaging UAE economy

Dubai police have arrested a British software engineer for hacking into the computers of UAE's monopoly Internet service provider, Etisalat Internet and Multimedia, or EIM.

The hacking affected EIM and thousands of its subscribers so severely that the government is now thinking of charging Lee Alan Asher, 26, with damaging the UAE's economy.

Dubai police claim this is UAE's or Middle East's first cyber-crime arrest.

While the police have seized a computer and other "potential evidence" from Asher's Dubai residence, under normal laws, Asher would be facing a simple imprisonment of up to six months in jail and a 10,000 dirhams (Rs 120,000) fine and deportation.

This is because the UAE, like most of the countries, are yet to formulate cyber-laws. According to Dubai Attorney General Ibrahim bu Melha, the nearest available charge was illegal use of Etisalat's equipment. "But I consider such a penalty to be very low considering the effect and damage a hacker can cause to the economy," he said.

Dubai police chief Major General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said that the Asher would be charged with damaging the UAE economy "if it is proved he destroyed information in the Internet system".

Earlier, there were a lot of red faces when it was discovered that the Internet system was hacked into, and Etisalat president and CEO Ali Salim Al Owais told a news conference that he believed some overseas hackers were also involved in breaking into EIM's system.

EIM has a veritable firewall/proxy system that filters everything "to protect UAE culture and traditions". Emirates Internet and Multimedia is a subsidiary company of Etisalat, the government-owned telecom company, also a monopoly.

Al Owais issued an apology to the subscribers and businesses in the UAE for the disruptions and said that more firewalls have been installed against future attacks.

This has reflected in the service because many subscribers complain of very slow access to the Internet.

EIM branded the hackers as "sick" and had said that EIM had been damaged beyond just financial loss. "The biggest damage has been to our name and image in the market and to the people using our services. This is damage that cannot be measured," said another EIM official.

Business