In a bid to crack down on cyber crimes, Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, has made it illegal for computers, cell phones or hi-tech devices to be bought or sold without the registration of the customer and suppliers ID numbers. The new directive issued Tuesday also stresses the importance of scanning the devices before selling or buying them for any illegal or dangerous data and reminded the dealers of Article 5 of the Anti-Cyber Crimes decree. The Article makes it imperative for dealers to explain to the seller that the best way of getting rid of saved material is to destroy the disc since no software can help in eliminating totally the content of the saved material. The measures are designed to protect privacy making it difficult for others to make use of pictures and confidential data, etc. This data may enable others to commit cyber crimes such as stealing bank accounts or blackmailing citizens with photos of their female family members. Owing to this the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has ordered all chambers of commerce to strictly implement these directives in order to protect society from possible cyber crimes committed by hackers. The directives follow a huge surge in the hacking of computers and the theft of mobile phones containing sensitive information such as photos and other confidential material. __
