Computer misuse act 1990
Before 1990, there were no laws, which could punish those who
hacked or damaged other people’s computers, so the Computer
Misuse act was bought in to bring hackers to justice.
The computer misuse act was set up to help prevent:
1. Unauthorized access to computer material – breach of this is 6
months imprisonment or a £5000 fine.
2. Unauthorized access with intent to commit offences on another
computer, again, 6 months in prison or £5000 fine.
3. Unauthorized modification to a computers material, such as
personal data or important files, 6 months in jail or £5000 fine
again.
Offences:
Offence 1) Hacking into someone’s user account to view information,
6 months jail and a fine
Offence 2) This is Offence 1 but with the intention of doing something
illegal with that users account, 5 years in jail and large fine
Offence 3) this relates to the deletion or changes to files to cause
damage to the computer or individual, this also encompasses
introducing a virus, 5 years jail and large fine
Offence 3a) this includes writing worms, Trojans and viruses and
then the distribution of these files, 5 years jail and an UNLIMITED
fine!