The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (UAETRA) has shared an advisory on social media regarding privacy issues and mobile phone security.
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In a tweet shared by the UAETRA last December 6, the agency reminded smartphone users to limit the amount of information displayed on the mobile screen by disabling the message preview option.
نصيحة ??
قلّل من المعلومات التي تظهر على شاشة هاتفك
Limit what appears on your mobile screen#aeCERT #traadvice pic.twitter.com/Gqdc6h45Ob— هيئة تنظيم الاتصالات (@TheUAETRA) December 6, 2018
Review your Smartphone Settings to Address Privacy Issues – UAERTA
The Arabic post underscores the importance of protecting your information and privacy which is becoming one of the more common issues related to digitalization of data nowadays.
The UAETRA pointed out this is a very common practice which many people do not pay attention to anymore. As information is readily shown on the phone’s screen display, other people may take advantage of this and use it against the user for purposes such as stalking, theft, or blackmailing.
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In other related news, the Dubai Police has reported that they have blocked over 5,000 fake social media accounts through the department’s smart initiative.
This comes in time with the launching of the Dubai Police’s new awareness campaign against online fraud.
According to Brigadier Jamal Salem Al Jallaf, director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation and Investigation, the Dubai Police has established a tie-up with telecomm company Etisalat to track down and closely monitor the activities of suspicious social media accounts and to directly block fake user accounts used for various e-crimes.
For his part, the director of policies and programmes at Etisalat, Mohammed Al Zarouni shared that the crackdown on fake social media accounts have started during the second half of 2017 through the use of an automated system which monitors activities of potentially fake accounts.
Zarouni pointed out that the crackdown does not mean the end of their goal, as raising awareness on a larger scale among netizens is the most important goal because awareness is the single-most important factor in curbing this type of crime, particularly in the UAE.
As of late, the UAE government has reinforced its grip on privacy laws, including one that charges individuals a fine of up to AED 500,000 for “filming, taking photos, recording audio and phone calls of people, then distributing them or producing copies of them or keeping any content of this type, even if they were true.”
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