Computer Bandits Face Bigger Sanctions

It is now over a decade since the Computer Misuse Act 1990 came into being, making hacking of data from computer systems and other such activities a crime. During the last decade we have seen a number of ‘denial of service’ (DOS) attacks, in which a website is bombarded with incoming messages, causing it to fail.

Bearing in mind the speed with which things change in the IT world, it is no surprise that the Act has for some time been considered to be overdue for revision and, accordingly, the Computer Misuse Act (Amendment) Bill has been progressing quietly through Parliament.

Two significant changes that the Bill makes to the current IT law are to make a DOS attack a specific offence and to increase the maximum jail term for computer hacking from two to six years.

Most computer users are unlikely ever to suffer a DOS attack, but hacking and attempts at hacking are relatively commonplace. Neglecting to take computer security very seriously indeed is no longer an option. It is said that banks are becoming chary of reimbursing losses suffered by clients whose online accounts are compromised by hackers unless customers can prove that they keep their computer security systems up to date, including anti-spyware and firewall software.