Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during ACI Lebanon
Golden Jubilee Grand Celebration, in Beirut September 1, 2014.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Beirut- Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh affirmed that
Lebanon has completed required legislation regarding digital security.
He said that Lebanon considers – combating money laundering and fighting
funding terrorism – a priority and therefore participating through its
private and public sectors in this field.

Salameh made the call in his address to the 2nd Anti-Cyber-crime
Forum themed “Fighting Digital Fraud and Piracy in the Banking and
Commercial Sectors in Lebanon.”

The event is organized by Al Iktissad Wal-Aamal group, in
collaboration with Special Investigation Commission (SIC) of the Central
Bank of Lebanon and the Cybercrime and the Intellectual Property Bureau
of the Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces.

Governor Riad Salameh said that the cyber-crime has been worrying
governments and monitoring bodies – since they are suspected to be
linked to terrorism. “These crimes have increased throughout the past three years,”
secretary general of the central bank’s SIC Abdul-Hafeez Mansour told
the forum.

“In 2011, the SIC received one report on a single case when USD 5,500
were embezzled,” he said. “In 2015, SIC 84 reports… So far in 2016, 86
out of 137 piracy crimes were fruitful while the concerned control
bodies thwarted 51 others,” he added.

For his part, Deputy CEO of Al Iktissad Wal-Aamal group Faisal Abu
Zaki, hailed the efforts of Salameh to protect the monetary, banks and
economy from the impact of internal regional and international crises.