Interpol arrest UAE school's former IT head in Italy after alleged website hack

Former employee accused of deleting student files after resigning

Powered by automated translation

The ex-head of a UAE school’s IT department has been arrested for hacking his former employer’s website and deleting vast quantities of data.

Police said the man, who had worked at the school for 16 years, had resigned from his job and left the country before the attack took place.

School authorities revealed the entire content of their “electronic system” – which included 18 school branches - was deleted in the incident.

After alerting Interpol to the attack, officers were able to track down the man in Italy where he was detained.

“He [the IT department head] had submitted his resignation and had left the school premises and the country,” said a school spokesman.

“A few days later, all the data and content of our electronic system was deleted.”

Brigadier Abdulraheem bin Shafee, of Al Barsha police station in Dubai, said the school had alerted his officers to the hacking attack.

Police then contacted Interpol and request their assistance in tracking the man down.

The wiped data included students’ files and other school documents, temporarily making the day to day running of the school near impossible.

Experts were later able to retrieve the lost information and secure the website against further attacks.

“Our experts from the information technology department went to the school and managed to retrieve the files and data,” said Mr bin Shafee.

Dubai police are now awaiting the extradition of the accused man by Italian authorities. He was apprehended by officers trying to enter Italy.