Circumventing IP address with malicious intent now punishable offence in UAE

The use of the Internet Protocol address for committing a crime or evading its discovery is a punishable offense, the UAE Public Prosecution has warned.

Violators will face imprisonment and a financial fine of between Dhs0.5m-Dhs2m, or either of these two penalties.

“According to Article 9 of the Federal Law No. 5 for 2012 on combating cybercrimes and its amendments, shall be punished by imprisonment and fine of not less than Dhs500,000 and not in excess of Dhs2,000,000, or either of these two penalties, whoever uses a fraudulent IP address by using a false address or a third party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery,” the Prosecution said, on its Twitter account.

عقوبة التحايل على العنوان البروتوكولي للشبكة المعلوماتية بقصد ارتكاب جريمة او الحيلولة دون اكتشافها#قانون #ثقف_نفسك #ثقافة_قانونية #تقنية_المعلومات #خلك_حكيم #الامارات #الامارات_العربية_المتحدة #النيابة_العامة_الاتحادية#cybercrime #law #legal_culture pic.twitter.com/SVwoQWcCt1

— النيابة العامة (@UAE_PP) November 28, 2020

The Public Prosecution defined the IP address as the numerical label assigned to any information technology media participating in computer network which is used for communication purposes.

Last week, the UAE Public Prosecution confirmed that forgery of electronic documents in the UAE was also a punishable offense; offenders will face stiff penalties, which start from a minimum of Dhs100,000 monetary fine to jail time, it added.

Read: Forgery of electronic documents in UAE could cost Dhs100,000 or more

Last month, it sounded caution against forging currency and its possible penalties.

Read: UAE Public Prosecution warns of life imprisonment for counterfeiting currency