6. Legislation

Hacking, computer fraud and computer viruses are all relatively new  crimes that established English laws were not designed to deal with. For example, under existing laws a hacker could only be prosecuted for the theft of electricity.

To deal with these new crimes, a law was introduced in 1990 called 'The Computer Misuse Act'

Under this law, the following offences could be dealt with:

1.  Hacking - unauthorised access to any program or data held in a computer. Penalty is a maximum fine of £2000 and a six month prison sentence.

2.  Computer fraud and blackmail. Penalty is an unlimited fine and a maximum five year prison sentence.

3.   Viruses - unauthorised modification of the contents of a computer, impairing the operation of any program or reliability of data. Penalty is an unlimited fine and a maximum five year prison sentence.