The accounts of several well-known figures on the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook were hacked recently, including those of novelist Abdu Khal, writer and journalist Turki Al-Hamad, actor Fayez Al-Maliki and TV presenter Mustafa Agha. Al-Arabiya News Channel's Facebook and Twitter accounts were also compromised. Hackers posted false news about an explosion at a Qatari natural gas field that killed dozens of people. They also posted a story reporting a series of explosions in the Syrian city of Tartus and another alleging that international observers had been shot on their way out of Homs. In an interview, novelist Abdu Khal told Al-Arabiya, “Hacking is a crime punishable by law in Saudi Arabia.” He also said that some hacking incidents could be an attempt to warn people not to express their opinions. “We find that there are those who encourage such unlawful actions. They call themselves ‘mujahideen', as if we are in a battle,” he said. The Twitter account of Mustafa Agha, MBC's sports presenter, was hacked. MBC group released a disclaimer on their website stating that the tweets posted did not represent the views of the TV presenter or the MBC group. Ivan Macalintal, a US-based security evangelist at security firm Trend Micro, told Saudi Gazette that it was easy to hack into Twitter and Facebook accounts given the tools cyber-criminals use nowadays. “With the right amount of social engineering, it would be fairly easy to hack into these accounts,” he explained. “With updated security products and strong password creation, one will be reasonably protected from these hacking attempts,” he added. Macalintal suggested criminals hack into such accounts for various reasons. “Hackers could be selling stolen account details to login to bank accounts and steal funds,” he explained. Omar, an IT specialist who is familiar with hacking, said that the common way of hacking is through spyware key loggers. These are attached to emails that download the spyware onto the system by itself and then secretly copy passwords. Omar added that viruses and hacking software, like technology itself, evolve at a super fast rate, so when protection becomes outdated, it eventually becomes vulnerable. “The best form of protection is to change passwords regularly and to have a strong firewall and of course to regularly update your anti-virus software. Most people install protection software once and forget about it,” he explained. He also urged people to always check and screen emails they open. “Don't just open anything and be careful of what you download,” he said adding that PC users need to be more careful than Mac or Linux because most viruses and hacking software are designed for Windows. The Ministry of Interior's Law of Combating Cybercrime stipulates that a person who commits a cybercrime shall be subjected to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding 500,000 Saudi riyals or both. Qaisar Metawea, a lawyer, said that when someone's account is hacked and the victim files a complaint with the police, a public prosecution – depending on the evidence – could be initiated against the perpetrator thereafter. __
