Doha: Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has urged public not to share their personal information on social media platforms.

“Your data is your responsibility, keep your information private and protect yourself from risks,” QCB said in a post yesterday.

Elaborating regarding data privacy, it further noted that “Personal information is everything about you. Your name, date of birth, and address are information linked specifically to you. Your ID, passport and driver’s license are also considered sensitive personal information.”

“Your data is your responsibility, keep your information private and protect yourself from risks. Your account information, such as email addresses, username and passwords, forms your digital identity. Your credit card information gives access to your money. If you don’t share it with others, don’t share it online,” it added.

Qatar is committed to protect the privacy of personal data.

The Data Privacy Day marked every year on January 28 is an occasion to highlight the importance of protecting personal data for individuals and institutions.

It serves as a crucial reminder to prioritise safeguarding personal information in today’s digital era and underscores the value of treating personal data with care.

In a previous post QCB warned against phishing and gave some phishing protection tips.

It urged to avoid responding to messages from unknown sources.

“Never share or publish personal information or data on social media platforms. Verify the identities of your friends on social media and only interact with people you know. Ensure age restrictions and content controls are enabled for young users,” the post on its X platform said.

Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a legitimate and reputable source, usually through email and text messaging.

The attacker’s goal is to steal money, gain access to sensitive data and login information, or to install malware on the victim’s device.

Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers.

In July last year, QCB in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, the National Cyber Security Agency and Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, launched a large-scale national campaign to raise awareness of information security under the slogan ‘Stay Aware’.

The campaign was launched in line with Qatar’s efforts to enhance awareness of cybersecurity risks and its vision towards building a cyber-secure society that is aware enough to face future challenges that accompany the accelerating technological revolution.

It aims to spread awareness among the public on the dangers of financial fraud, highlighting cyber threats that may arise in light of the rapid technological and digital development.

The campaign also aims to provide people with practical strategies to avoid falling victim to such threats.

The campaign emphasises the importance of cybersecurity, focusing on three main threats.

First, phishing, in which scammers impersonate known entities to obtain important personal information from victims via email or text messages.

Second, alerting to the threat of receiving fraudulent calls, and third, highlighting the importance of data privacy while directing individuals to be extremely careful when sharing their personal information.

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