The Fight against Cybercrime in Cameroon
Keywords:
Fight, Cybercrime, Data, Protection, CameroonAbstract
With the on-going Anglophone crisis in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, individuals, businesses and the government are increasingly becoming at risk of being targeted by cyber criminals. Amid this challenge, Cameroon has enacted a law relating to Cyber Security and Cyber Criminality (hereinafter referred to as the Cyber law) and trained personels to fight cybercrime. In spite of these measures, cybercrime is still rampant and the question is why? This contribution therefore examines the measures put in place to combat cybercrime with the aim of showing that the measures are inadequate. Also, the contribution explains why cybercrime is prevalent in Cameroon and concludes with measures to prevent and minimise the impacts of cybercrime (recommendations). This paper aims to raise awareness and improve knowledge of data protection rules, especially among investigating officers, students, specialists and non-specialist legal practitioners who have to deal with data protection issues in their work.
References
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Ibid.
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. Ibid.
. Sections 60 to 85 Cyber law.
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. Ibid.
. Ibid.
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. Part one provides content to key terms such as cipher, encryption, and security audit just to name a few. Part two deals with electronic security and cyber security. This part places on the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication the duty to formulate and implement policies relating to electronic communication security. The National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, hereinafter referred to as the Agency, is responsible for the regulation of electronic security activities in collaboration with the Telecommunications Regulatory Board. Part three identifies crimes that may be committed through the internet and their various penalties and part four relates to international cooperation with other countries.
. Section1, Cyber Law.
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. Section 39, Cyber Law.
. 23 March 1976.
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. Advocate General Sharpston described the case as involving two separate rights: the ‘classic’ right to the protection of privacy and a more ‘modern’ right, the right to data protection. See CJEU, Joined cases C-92/09 and C-93/02, Volker und Markus Schecke GbR v. Land Hessen, Opinion of Advocate General Sharpston, 17 June 2010, para. 71. 5. S
. Ibid.
. The Preamble, Cameroon Constitution.
. Sections 152, 305 and 280-281 of the Penal Code criminalise actions of contempt or assault against anyone.
. Section 42,Cyber Law states that ‘The confidentiality of information channelled through electronic communication and information systems networks, including traffic data, shall be ensured by operators of electronic communication and networks information systems’.
. Section 3 (24), Cyber Law.
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. Section 45, Cyber Law.
. Section 61, Cyber Law.
Section 44 (1), Cyber Law.
. Section 47, Cyber Law.
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. Ibid, section 52 (1).
. See sections 57-126 of Law No. 2005/007 of 27 July 2005.
. Ibid, Section 82.
Section 74 (1), Cyber Law punishes with imprisonment from one to two years and a fine from one to two million.
. Section 74 (4), Cyber Law punishes with imprisonment from six months to two years or a fine from one to five million CFA francs or both of such fine and imprisonment.
. Section 78 (1) punishes with imprisonment from six months to two years or a fine from five to ten million CFA francs or both of such fine and imprisonment.
. Court of First Instance of Buea (CFIB)/017b/2015 unreported.
. CFIB/015f/2012 unreported.
. Section 72, Cyber Law.
. Court of First Instance of Buea/011A/2013 unreported.
. Section 73 (2), Cyber Law provides ‘Whoever deliberately accepts to receive electronic communications payment using a forged or falsified payment, credit or cash withdrawal card shall be punished in accordance with Subsection 1 above’.
. Section 8 (1), Cyber Law provides “… ANTIC shall be the Root Certification Authority (2) … ANTIC shall be the Certification Authority of the Public Administration.”
. Section 16, Cyber Law.
. Sections 13 and 32 (2), Cyber Law.
. Sections 32 (3), Cyber Law. It is left for the experts to define the conditions and terms for the conduct of security audit.
. Section 13 (2), Cyber Law. See Decree No.2012/1643PM of 14 June 2012 on the Conditions and Modalities of Security Audit of Electronic Communication and Information Systems Networks for the conditions for the conduct of audit.
. Section 14, Cyber Law.
. Section 6 (1), Cyber Law.
. Section 24, Cyber Law.
. Sections 25 31 and 46, Cyber Law.
. Ibid.
. 33, Cyber Law. The risks which users are to be informed of are not known by users.
. Section 3 (41), Cyber Law. Processing is carried out in good faith and entails in particular the collection, storage, use, revision, disclosure, archiving and destruction of data, regardless of the means applied and procedure
. Section 3 (41), Cyber Law.
. Ibid, Section 53.
. Ibid, Section 3 (42) defines Connection data as ‘data relating to the access process in an electronic communication’.
. Ibid, Section 3 (43) defines Traffic data as ‘data relating to an electronic communication indicating the origin, destination, route, time, date, size and duration or type of underlying service’.
. Decree No. 2002/092 of 8th April 2002.
. Section 7(1), Cyber Law.
. Ibid.
. See Decree No. 2012/180/PR of 10th April 2012.
. The seminars were organized differently. In Buea, it was organized on the 16 of September 2017, Douala, 4-5 of May 2017 and Bertoua from the 25-27 May 2017.
. The Seminar was organized in the month of November of 2012.
. http://antic.cm/index.php/en/component/k2/item/348, [Feb.10, 2018].
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. Section 73 (1), Cyber Law.
. The Budpast Convention of 23rd November 2001.
. See accessed 12 August 2018.
. CFIB/015f/2012 unreported.
. In cracking down on cyber crime, the government created in 2015 a center for digital forensic and cyber security under the University of Buea in partnership with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication and university of Bloomsburg in the U.S. according to the director of the centre, Joan Waka, their mission is to “train young Cameroonians on how to protect the country’s cyberspace”.
. CFIB/015f/2012 unreported.
. An interview conducted with a scammer in my neighbour in Limbe.
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. Interview conducted on the 12 of July 2018.
. Section 6 (1), Cyber Iaw.
. The duty of information and communication operators to conserve data for 10 years is repeated in various sections of the law, that is, sections 25, 35, 42 and 46. The repetition of these sections brings the law to 90 sections.
. Africa.ICT. “Full text in English: cyber security& cyber criminality law”. Internet: www.africt.com, [Sept. 23, 2019].
C. Michael. Scene of the Cybercrime. Location: Syngress Publishing Inc, London, 2008, pp35.
. Ibid.
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