Hacker ‘wanted’ in Dubai held in Italy

dubai — An Arab fugitive hacker on the “wanted” list in the UAE was arrested in Italy in coordination with the Interpol.

The former IT department employee at a Dubai-based school was accused of hacking confidential files, taking advantage of the powers entrusted with his job role. The case was taken up under the directives of Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police, and follow-up of MajorGeneral Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, assistant commander-inchief for criminal investigation department at the Dubai Police.

Brigadier Abdul Rahim bin Shafieh, director of Al Barsha police station, said they received a call from a school official stating that a former director of the IT department has deleted files from their system. He deleted all data of the school and students and this affected the courses and the study process.

“As the head of the IT department, he took advantage of the powers granted to him and possessed all the secret code numbers and access codes to the school data. After he left the country and submitted his resignation, he hacked the school files,” said Brig Shafieh.

“The cybercrime department of the Dubai Police and the Interpol section formed a team to follow up the case and were able to retrieve the deleted files and secured the school IT network.

“The Interpol issued an international arrest warrant and a red alert against the man and followed his movement in Europe. He was arrested while attempting to cross into Italy. Currently, the Dubai Police are in coordination with the authorities in Italy to extradite and bring him to justice.”

He praised the school administration for its keenness to bring the suspect under the law. He stressed that the rapid communication between the police and schools is the result of the implementation of the school security initiative.