Cyber Victimization: UAE as a Case Study

The Internet has been widely adopted by UAE citizens, with one of the highest penetration rates in the world, yet the potential to become a victim of cybercrime is high. A quantitative cross-sectional online survey strategy was adopted to collect the data on cybercrime and cybervictimisation to support the identification of the most appropriate approaches to address cybervictimisation in the UAE. The results indicate the key patterns of cybervictimisation in the UAE as identity fraud, cyberharassment and cyber attack, with impacts mainly on a psychological/emotional level. Evidence pointed to strong associations between online activity and time spent online and cybervictimisation. There was a significant perception that legislative measures did not sufficiently address cybervictimisation and punitive measures were lenient. Logistic regression analysis indicated likelihood of cybervictimisation was associated with technical guardianship, online behaviour and usage, computer proficiency, time spent online, region of residence and gender. Classification and regression tree analysis identified different patterns indicating user characteristics consisting of security measures and online routine behaviour. The findings support the development of a comprehensive Incident Response Framework (IRF), which is needed to inform legal authorities and victim service provision.