Algeria arrests cyber suspects

Eliminating, reducing cyber crimes Algiers – Hocine Bousalah The authority for combating cyber crimes affiliated to the security authority of Algeria arrested twenty people suspected of using fraudulent methods on the Internet. This phenomenon has became prevalent in the country since the beginning of this year. On Tuesday a statement by a communication cell to the General Directorate of National Security said: "In the framework of the national security interest in eliminating and reducing cyber crimes, the Department of Cyber Crimes Combat investigated 30 cases in the first half of the current year based on complaints. The crimes involved physical evidence of the involvement of twenty people with ages ranging between 30 and 50 years old." The statement said that according to the complaints nine cases were investigated and these cases are related to system automated processing of data in which four people are involved,  seven cases related to faking the identity of others in which five people were involved, five cases of online defamation involving three people, four cases of defamation threats involving four people, some for violating the sanctity of private life and others for publishing obscene photos online. The spread of the phenomenon of cyber crime led the General Directorate of National Security to establish teams and specialised cells at a district level managed by experts with high-level of training outside the country in order to deal with cyber crime that employs various fraudulent methods that rely on the exploitation of modern technology.