Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/433160
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2014 News 9 TIM DIACONO POLICE data revealed to MaltaTo- day indicate that criminals are in- creasingly taking to the digital world to carry out their dirty work, with cy- ber crime police having to investigate a record 616 cyber cases in 2013. This is an increase from 576 cases in 2012 and 372 cases in 2011. Since the Cyber Crime Unit was set up in 2003, it has investigated 30 cyber ter- rorism cases, five of which took place last year. In the past ten years, it has also in- vestigated 164 cases involving child pornography, 11 cases of human trafficking, 89 cases of sexual of- fences and six cases involving pros- titution. "Cyber policing is the future of po- licing," Cyber Crime Unit Inspector Timothy Zammit said recently at a conference held to discuss the chal- lenges teachers face as a result of the Internet. "Yet only myself and seven ser- geants are employed in the unit and it is difficult to convince people to take us seriously. Funding is very difficult to come by too." The most popular crime is 'com- puter misuse', a broad term that in- cludes hacking, virus use and bom- barding servers with traffic. Cyber crimes involving fraud and forgery remain popular as well, with the Cyber Crime Unit investigating 120 such cases last year. These in- clude people succumbing to online pop-ups or messages congratulating the user on winning a grand prize or warning them that their compu- ter has been infected by a virus. "Believe it or not, but people still fall victim to such simple online scams," Zammit said. Cyber 'hate crime' involving in- sults and threats has steadily risen over the years and the police in- vestigated 137 such cases last year. Cyber hate crimes that specifically incite racial hatred have spiked dramatically, with the Cyber Crime Unit having received 13 such re- ports in 2013, more than they had received over the previous 10 years. "We are witnessing a rise in on- line 'sextortionists' who blackmail people with their naked pictures and video clips and threaten to send them to their friends and family," Zammit warned. With 616 cyber crime cases in a year in a country where Internet access is now widespread – 80% of households had Internet access at the latest count – Zammit said that a lot of cyber cases slip under the radar. "The actual figures are probably much higher," he said. "Sometimes, people are scared or embarrassed to report certain cyber cases to the po- lice. At other times, they are simply unaware that they have fallen victim to cyber crimes such as hacking and assume that there was something wrong with their computer sys- tem." TIM DIACONO TAX defaulters could soon be al- lowed to settle their dues by giv- ing up property to the government, which will then use it as social hous- ing for disabled people. It is a financial solution that the government has come up with for a project that is estimated to cost €40 million. It is expected to take the form of a private-public partnership, with 50% of the money coming from the private sector and the other half from the government. The project will include a disabil- ity inclusion centre at the heart of a residential community that will ca- ter for 100 disabled people, 15 disa- bled people on an emergency respite basis, and 85 disabled people who attend the day centre. It will also include 25 community homes that will cater for 25 disabled people, and five regional inclusion cluster houses that will consist of four apartments per block accom- modating four disabled people per apartment. Calls for expressions of interest have already been issued for some cluster housing units and small community homes. A 'transition hotel' for 20 disabled people will also be set up to screen and provide rehabilitation training to disabled people before they are transferred to residential homes. In total, this new project will pro- vide permanent housing for 205 disabled people. "Apart from promoting human rights for the disadvantaged, [the project] will save the public purse more expensive institutional care, as residential services can be run jointly with private, NGO and vol- unteer services," a government statement said. According to the 2012 National Census, 22,000 disabled people and 4,500 intellectually challenged peo- ple require full- or part-time resi- dential care. "Often, disabled adults live with their parents until their family can't take care of them," the government said. "When their parents pass away, they lose their life support and often have to be accommodated in public residential old peoples' homes which are unsustainable and unequipped to attend to their care needs. "It is government policy to em- power people with a disability who reach adulthood to live independ- ently in safe, secure and comfortable accommodation with support staff to help as necessary, and as close as possible to the rest of society." Government could convert tax defaulters' property into homes for disabled €40 million social housing project to provide permanent residences to over 200 disabled people 'We are witnessing a rise in online sextortionists who blackmail people with their naked pictures and video clips and threaten to send them to their friends and family' Cyber crime police investigations reach record levels Grit blasting samples still being evaluated JAMES DEBONO THE Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority is still evaluating the re- sults of a laboratory analysis of samples taken in September in a bid to establish whether hazardous waste was illegally deposited in an area which had been cemented over by Palumbo in 2012. A spokesperson for MEPA confirmed that the authority has received a labo- ratory report of the material collected from the Palumbo shipyards three months ago. "This report is currently being evalu- ated prior to a decision of what further enforcement action is to be taken". In a statement issued in September the authority said it started investigat- ing the Palumbo site after it received a tip off that quantities of grit blasting material were buried under the con- crete foundations. From initial investigations conducted by MEPA it resulted that grit blasting waste generated by Palumbo's opera- tions had been used in the foundations of the yard and was buried under the concrete flooring. It was reported that the authority was collecting various samples of the un- earthed waste material to send for test- ing to determine what procedures and safeguards it needs to take. Palumbo insists that the area from where MEPA officers took their sam- ples was used as a grit blasting and spraying section before it took over the yard and was covered in concrete to create space for boat storage.