As governments, businesses, and individuals across the Arab region become increasingly connected, cybercrime continues to grow in scale and sophistication. Cybercriminals often launch attacks from one country, target victims in another, and store stolen data or digital evidence across multiple jurisdictions, making regional cooperation essential.
Adopted in 2010 under the League of Arab States, the Arab Convention on Combating Information Technology Offences establishes a common legal framework that enables Arab countries to prevent, investigate, and prosecute cybercrime while strengthening cooperation among law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judicial authorities.
The Convention seeks to harmonize cybercrime legislation across participating countries, reducing legal gaps that criminals exploit. It also facilitates information sharing, mutual legal assistance, preservation and exchange of digital evidence, and cooperation in criminal proceedings involving cyber-enabled offences.
The Convention covers a wide range of offences, including unauthorized access to computer systems (hacking), illegal interception of communications, damage to computer systems or digital data, malware creation and distribution, identity theft, digital impersonation, online fraud, financial cybercrime, privacy violations involving information technology, child exploitation committed through information technology, and other cyber-enabled offences under participating states’ laws.
Digital evidence—including emails, computer files, server logs, IP addresses, mobile device data, and cloud records—is vital for identifying suspects, reconstructing cyber incidents, and supporting prosecutions. The Convention promotes its timely preservation and exchange while encouraging improvements in digital forensics, technical investigation skills, law enforcement training, judicial practices, and information sharing.
These capabilities are increasingly important as cybercriminals use ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), AI-assisted phishing, malware, cryptocurrency-enabled financial crime, and attacks targeting critical infrastructure and supply chains. For example, a ransomware group may operate from one country while attacking organizations across several others, making coordinated legal and technical cooperation essential.
By strengthening collaboration among governments, law enforcement agencies, businesses, financial institutions, critical infrastructure operators, and citizens, the Convention enhances cybersecurity, protects digital services, supports economic stability, and increases trust in online transactions. Complementing broader international efforts, it provides a strong regional framework for building a safer, more secure, and more resilient digital future across the Arab world.
For more details open the PDF http://issa-eg.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Arab-Convention-on-Combating-Information-Technology-Offences.pdf