The Palestinian central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)

E-crime is recognized   as a virtual crime of  any committed offense against individuals or groups  and to be motivated  by a criminal intent as of a material or moral abuse, whether  it comes directly or indirectly,  and done by using a modern means of communication such as the Internet.

More than half of young people in Palestine are using the internet

Studies indicated  that  increasing percentages  of uses  of the Internet and computers among members of a  community would  lead to the emergence of electronic crime. The percentage  of Internet usage in Palestine reached  nearly  to one-third  of the population (30.4%)  in 2011 compared with 9.2% in 2004.  The percentage of Internet usage  reached 30.6% in the West Bank, and 30.0% in Gaza Strip in 2011. As well as  more than half of young people in Palestine (15-29 years old) use the Internet (55.0%) compared with five percent  in 2004

More than half of Internet users were exposed to Informatics threats

Data of the household survey of  ICT  in 2011 indicated that  more than half of individuals of the Internet users ( aged 10 years and above  ) were  subjected to varied threats of information 53.7%, and differences  were clear between the West Bank  at 49.1%, and  Gaza Strip at  61.9%. This percentage  was  varied at the governorate  level to reach its maximum of about 70% in Tulkarm and KhanYounis, and the lowest  was  in Salfit  by 18.3% 

Varying percentages  of exposure to IT threats by its nature

The nature of these informatics threats  like entering viruses through the Internet  at 47.0%, the dissemination of indecent  and inappropriate contents at  13.1%,  disrupting and sabotaging  of data  at  9.3%, and the theft of personal data of 7.3%, and  theft of credit card at 1.1%

The percentages  of exposure to IT threats over the Internet were  varied between the West Bank and Gaza Strip according to the nature of these threats. West Bank recorded  the highest  percentage  with regard to the dissemination of indecent  and inappropriate contents at  15.8% compared with 8.5% in Gaza strip,  theft of personal data at 8.2% compared with 5.7%,   theft of credit card 1.6% compared with 0.1% in  Gaza Strip.

Gaza Strip recorded  the highest  percentages  with regard to the online entry of viruses  at 55.9% compared with 41.9% in the West bank, as well as disrupting and sabotaging  of data  at 10.5% compared with 8.6% in the West Bank

Also, data indicated that  there was a  gender disparity in percentages of the nature of exposure to these IT threats ; as the percentage of  women  who were exposed  to   theft of credit card  reached 1.8% compared with 0.5% for males, as well as   women who were subjected to disrupting and sabotaging  of data  at 10.3% compared with 8.6% for males

It  should be noted  that the percentage of people who use the Internet in financial and banking services amounted to 4.9% while the percentage of those who use the Internet for e-commerce and online shopping  reached 3.4%