Cyberspace Laws in Fiji: Strengths and Weaknesses

This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the cyber laws in Fiji, emphasizing on the punishments to the offenders. It also suggests strategies to improve the existing laws and combat cybercrime. The Computer Crime Laws in Fiji are strict and Computer Offenses are covered under Section 336 to 351 of Division 6 in the Crimes Decree 2009 in the Decree No. 44. However, there are various weaknesses in the Cybercrime Laws of Fiji. Fiji should consider the best strategies applied by some of the countries to combat cybercrimes.

Cyberspace Laws in Fiji

Introduction
Cyberspace has become a routine of individuals, groups, industries, educational institutions
as well as administrations across the world. The expenditure, investment and social media
which are online facilities have become highly popular which results in powerful economy
that enables exchange of information. It is considered as a system that facilitates easy and
speedycommunication among the people, businesses, educational institutions as well as
governments. However, such benefits provided by the system introduce various incalculable
threats and costs. The reliance upon thissystem of network produces innovative
susceptibilities the outcome of which is increasing rate of cybercrimes (Pandey, et al.,
2016).At the same time, cybercrimes might not include loss to the physical property but
instead, it includes utilization of significant and confidential information.Cybercrimes or
computer crimes costs billions of dollars all over the world and threaten the future of
communication. However, inFiji, there are cyber laws in which, there are provisions for the
punishments to the offenders and in this project, these laws will be discussed emphasizing on
their strengths as well as weaknesses.
Discussion
As various new types of crimes are evolving frequently, it is essential that there should be a
process of verification and modifications in the legal procedures so that such wrongdoings
could be challenged in the law courts. There are varieties of computer related crimes which
are hacking, phishing, computer viruses, money-laundering, cyber stalking and such others.
In Fiji, in excess of 45 cybercrimes were noticed in the last five years, out of which, 15 cases
were regarding internet banking scams, where the sum was around $120,000 from various
local bank accounts(Tarte, 2018).Cybercrimes have increased radically all over the world

despite organizations implementing end-to-end security solutions perfectly. There are number
of security breaches because cybercriminals have become able to exploit fragile links in the
security systems of the victims because of outdated solutions that could not identify such
abnormalities within their system environment (SUVA, 2018).
The universal types of cyber crimes are “Identify Theft”, “Ransomware”, “DDoS Attacks”,
“Botnets”, Spamming, Phishing and many others. “Identify Theft” is one of the most
common cybercrimes, where, an individual appears to be somebody else with an intention to
perform fraudulent act for financial benefits and the imitation to be somebody else online is
known as “Online Identity Theft”. Cybercriminals perform such acts to obtain credit card
information, details of electronic mails, Ids, passwords and other secured accounts of banking
and financial institutions (ITU, 2013). “Ransomware” has been known to be as one of the
most horrible attacks based on malware, which enters the network of computer and encrypts
the files with the use of public-key encryption. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack
brings down the online service and makes it unavailable through trafficking it from various
sources. Botnets are the huge network of infected computers and are controlled by hackers
who do illegal activities such as send spam.In a similar manner, two other highly common
cybercrimes are Spamming and Phishing. Spamming includes unwanted electronic mails
while Phishing occurs when cyber criminals offer induce by various ways such as through
lucrative business proposals or lotteries and request personal information in order to claim
such offers. Through Social Engineering, cyber criminalsestablish direct contact with
potential victims through emails and phones. Such criminals gain confidence of the victims
and extract confidential informationfrom them such as their banking details or other financial
information (Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, 2018).
The Computer Crime Laws in Fiji are strict and Computer Offenses are covered under
Section 336 to 351 of Division 6 in the Crimes Decree 2009 in the Decree No.

44(Tamanikaiwaimaro, 2011). The Crimes Decree 2009 is a fundamental legal tool that
outlaws the cybercrimes but is not capable of holding the complexities and various cyber
security breaches in Fiji which influences the cyber security in the country. The cybercrimes
unit and authorised implementation authorities of Fiji are confronted while making efforts to
outlaw the cybercrimes and investigations of complaints regarding cybercrimes. The reason
behind the confrontations is absence of clear law-making provisions to criminalize the cyber
offences that could enable criminal concerns to be brought against alleged wrongdoers. It is
because such crimes are not considered as criminal acts under the existing legislations and
makes Fiji exceedingly vulnerable from the point of view of its capacity to outlaw the
cybercrimes under the existing Crimes Decree particularly as the complicated cyber offences
occurring in majority of developed nations and their relevant cyber regulations (fijifiu.gov.fj,
2018).
Various cyber crime cases have been notified in last few years in Fiji. In 2013, the loss of
US$65,000 was incurred to a Suva based company in a single payment transaction for
purchase of soft goods from Taiwan wherein, payment had been diverted to UAE to India.
Similarly, in 2014, because of cybercrime, a Suva based company incurred a loss of
US$101,000 on purchase of apparel from Israel wherein, the payment got diverted to UK.
Another case is of 2015, when a Nausori based company incurred a loss of US$13,000 on
purchase of food and other products of supermarket from Pakistan and the payment was side
tracked to UK (Brenner, 2001). In this way, number of cases related to Cyber laundering
conducted through email bluffing was inspected by the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU) in the
last few years.
However, there are various weaknesses in the Cybercrime Laws of Fiji, few are mentioned in
this paper. In 2013, there was an online boutique being functioned with the name “Pink
Window Creation”. The customers purchased various products in the name of the boutique

through online social networks which were never delivered by the boutique (Barnes, 2015). It
was later on revealed that charges on the owner were to be released only in case, if the
customers were refunded before the first date of hearing. Because of not so explicit
cybercrime laws in Fiji related to the Online Buying processes and lack of effective law
permitted the similar possessor to construct another Online boutique account and when the
items were bought, the supply of those stuffs was completed merely to develop a client base.
When the customers were pleased with the Online Store and trusted it, customers requested
large orders by the payment of huge amount of currency and those stuffs were never supplied
to them. A similar case was noticed where the suspicious utilized wrong information on
social sites and took $240. It was later on considered to be the "Used computer to gain
financial advantage"in the category of "Serious Computer Offence" and "Obtaining
Financial Advantage by Deception" in contradiction of sections 318 and 341 as stated by
Crimes Decree No. 44 of 2009 and there was a provision of punishment of imprisonment of
one year and a deferred punishment of three years. Because of non-existence of specific and
strict cybercrime laws in the region, this punishment could cause for a stricter penalty so as to
deter cybercriminals in future.
Fiji is a partaker in Cybercrime Awareness and Prevention and is a fellow of ITU-IMPACT
initiative which possess the accessibility to suitable cyber security services.In addition to it,
Fiji is a contributor in Asia Pacific CIRT (Computer Incidents Response Team) cyber
security forums. The country is also a beneficiary of EU/ITUcombined subsidized project
named “Capacity Building and ICT Policy, Regulatory and Legislative Frameworks Support
for Pacific Island Counties”. Fiji is a fellow nation of the Pacific Regional “Pacific
Computer Emergency Incidents Response Team” (PacCERT). The ITUdirected a Computer
Incidents Response Team (CIRT)valuationof Fiji in the year 2014, however Fiji is until
nowhaving a legallyrecognisednationwide CIRT.There is requirement of establishing explicit

legislations as well as directives regarding cyber security in Fiji. Furthermore, there is lack of
any kind of formal documentation which could be an all-inclusive National Cyber security
Framework for the effective implementation of cyber security principles. There are number
of countries such as UK, USA and Germany that have recognized the requirement to address
the challenges related to cyber security and have implemented strong cyber security policies
(U.S. Department of State, 2011). The USA has recognized cyber security among the most
serious economic and challenging for the national security as a result of which, ordered a
comprehensive investigation of the national level efforts for the purpose of protecting the
information and communication infrastructure as well as for the improvement of a thorough
tactic towards the protection of information substructure of the USA. In Fiji, there is still a
requirement of establishing a convincingly acknowledged agency which could be held
responsible for the employment of National cyber security policy, roadmap as well as
procedures.
The oppression through cybercrime could create long-lasting impact upon the life of an
individual. There is a technique named phishing which is employed by the scammers for the
purpose of sendingfraud or false emails that pretends to be from the banks or various other
financial institutions and requests for confidential information and if the information is
provided by the victims, it enables the cyber criminals to have access in their bank and credit
accounts. By this way, cyber criminals can also open new accounts as well as destroy their
credit ratings. Such a kind of damages could take years of time to get fixed and thus,
protection of confidential information online is considered as essential. Cyber criminals not
only target individuals but also focus their attacks on businesses whether small or large.
Cyber hackers make several attempts to capture the commercial servers to steal the data or to
make use of machineries for achieving their inappropriate purposes. It made essential for the
businesses to employ security staffs having relevant qualifications and expertise in order to

keep the stalkers out of their systems. That is why, large companies have to spend more on
cyber security then also, malware incidents are generallyreported by various companies.Due
to cybercrimes, monetary losses could be massive and millions of people get victimized to
some sort of cybercrime on daily basis that ranges from merely password theft to widespread
financial deceive. Till users become alert of outdated ways of outbreaks, cyber offenders
develop variety of new procedures that involve moveable devices as well as social networks
in order to retain their illegal benefits to remain in flow.In a similar manner, entertainment,
music and software industries get severely affected due to piracy and damage claims are not
so easy to be estimated and verified and might exceed to millions and billions of dollars on
yearly basis.Considering all this, copyright holders demand for stricter laws regarding
intellectual property theft as a result of which, laws such as Digital Millennium Copyright
Act has been established. Such stringent laws allow the copyright holders to aim individuals
who share intellectual property unlawfully and become able to sue them for huge amount of
monetary compensation in order to neutralize the financial losses incurred to them because of
illicit sharing of their intellectual property.
Fiji established a cybercrime cell within the police department in order to prevent combat
such crimes in the country. In the year 2010, Fiji established the Cyber security Working
Group which was headed by the Cybercrimes Unit of the national police force as well as by
the Defence Ministry of the country. This Group is supported by public-private partnership
that comprises IT departments of the government, authorisedoperators, banks as well as
network service providers. It is the responsibility of the Financial Intelligence Unit to
scrutinize the illegal activities for example the crimes related to money laundering. Moreover,
Fiji has addressed online monetary protection along with number of online customs and tax
avoidance issues by establishing the Fiji Inland Revenue and Customs Excise Authority.

As per the Cyber security Strategy report of Australia, it is expected that around 50 billion
devices will utilize internet all over the world by 2020. With the global expansion, the risk of
malicious actors will also become high. In majority of devices connected to the internet,
online security has not been designed which makes it easy for the mischievous performers to
interrupt and harm the network.
It has been identified that there are several weaknesses in the legislation of Fiji related to the
Cyber security and analysing all of them, certain recommendations and key strategies could
be suggested to improve or modify them as per the existing requirements. In this context, Fiji
could consider the best strategies applied by some of the countries to combat cybercrimes.
The Government of Australia has established a cyber-security strategy in association with
number of departments and agencies of the country. The Government of Australia has been
investing in millions in order to enhance and provide new initiatives similar to which, Fiji
should also invest in the Cyber security Laws so that lawbreakers could be punished. As
Australia has amended its Cybercrime Legislation emphasizing on all the computer related
offences, Fiji should also have similar laws and should introduce strategies similar to
Australia in order to take strict actions to combat cybercrime. Furthermore, Fiji should also
recruit Europe Convention on Cybercrime which is a global agreement on crimes conducted
online. The nationally recognized R&D projects for the establishment of cyber security
principles should also be implemented and should be applied in the country. There is a
requirement of professionally recognized training programs to be implemented in the country
in order to promote cognizanceregarding cyber security,and it should also be ensured that the
people handling such training courses be recognized globally and be specialized in the cyber
security courses. The educational institutions should also implement cyber security courses.
As the rate of internet users is increasing in the country, rate of cybercrimes is likely to
increase. Thus, cyber security courses provided within the educational institutions would

ensure awareness among the future generations regarding the impact of cybercrime and how
to mitigate the risks associated with the cyber safety. Furthermore, specific legislations are
required to be developed by Fiji regarding Child Online protection and the legislation as a
strong deterrent against offences regarding children. Fiji cyber offences should be made
against children that will be alleviated due to punitive fines associated with such crimes.
Conclusion
After analysing the legislation of Fiji, it can be concluded that reliance on cyber security laws
is not sufficient to combat cybercrimes because cyber criminals innovate their strategies with
the modifications and development in the information and communication technology and
discover ways to avoid existing laws. There is requirement of extreme vigilance while
dealing with the strangers online and never disclose personal and corporate confidential
information. Fiji should integrate precise and strict laws against cybercrimes in order to deal
with the innovative types of cybercrimes in an effective manner. It should also contain the
Intrusion Prevention and Detection Systems, anti-malware and anti-spam devices as well as
plans. There is requirement of regular update of the online servers and customer operating
systems and should be strengthened to safeguard all the individuals as well as businesses
against such vulnerabilities.
References
Barnes, G., 2015. CYBERSECURITY IN A WORLD OF CONNECTED DEVICES. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iiafiji.org/resources/3d0b474b-39f2-4709-b3a1-97b368766e3a.pdf
[Accessed 3 October 2018].
Brenner, S. W., 2001. Cybercrime Investigation and Prosecution: The Role of Penal and
Procedural Law. Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, 8(2).

fijifiu.gov.fj, 2018. National Anti-Money Laundering Council. [Online]
Available at: https://www.fijifiu.gov.fj/getattachment/fcf3a39e-c6b5-4b89-8c9a-
10c3cfaa5e2d/Fiji-National-Risk-Assesment-Report.aspx
[Accessed 3 October 2018].
ITU, 2013. CYBERWELLNESS PROFILE FIJI. [Online]
Available at: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Cybersecurity/Documents/Country_Profiles/
Fiji.pdf
[Accessed 3 October 2018].
Pandey, S., Shah, N., Sharma, A. & Farik, M., 2016. Cybersecurity Situation In Fiji.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, 5(7), pp.
215-218.
Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, 2018. Report on the Online Safety Bill. [Online]
Available at: http://www.parliament.gov.fj/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Standing-
Committee-on-JLHR-Report-on-the-Online-Safety-Bill-No-7-of-2018-part-1.pdf
[Accessed 3 October 2018].
SUVA, 2018. ybercrime, Cyber Safety, Cyber Resilience. [Online]
Available at: http://fijisun.com.fj/2018/04/28/cybercrime-cyber-safety-cyber-resilience/
[Accessed 3 October 2018].
Tamanikaiwaimaro, S., 2011. Cybersecurity in the Republic of Fiji, s.l.: s.n.
Tarte, S., 2018. Fiji Islands’ Security Challenges and Defense Policy. [Online]
Available at: http://www.nids.mod.go.jp/english/publication/joint_research/series5/pdf/5-
5.pdf
[Accessed 3 October 2018].

U.S. Department of State, 2011. BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
LABOR. [Online]
Available at: https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eap/154384.htm
[Accessed 3 October 2018].