Experts here have urged the government to introduce measures to protect the online social networking accounts of top public and private sector officials from increasing attacks by local and international hackers.

The protection should cover military officers and Shoura Council members, the experts said.

They said that the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the country’s telecommunications regulatory body, should play a key role in providing security.

Sultan Al-Malik, spokesman of the CITC, told local media recently that the commission has been supporting government agencies with security advice. He advised officials to register their accounts properly on social media.

“Social media networks allow officials, companies and organizations to register their accounts according to specific procedures. This prevents hacking, which is a crime under the country’s cybercrime laws.”

Mustafa Al-Idrisi, a member of the CITC committee at the Shoura Council, said people based in Saudi Arabia who hack into the accounts of officials are subject to local laws, which includes penalties such as imprisonment or fines.

However, it was difficult to track down and prosecute international hackers. This means that the CITC has to intensify its efforts to protect Internet users and officials.

Haitham Abu Aisha, a specialist in information technology, said the CITC has to set up a special committee that would deal with the security of officials and individuals.

He said officials often do not report that their accounts have been hacked because they feel nothing can be done to protect them.

Muhammad Al-Shammari, an information technology consultant, said the government should set up an e-security commission to protect the information of officials and companies in the Kingdom, especially with the rising use of the Internet in this country.