cybeer secur

As technology advances, the use of the criminal law to regulate conduct using such technology also advances. Perceptions concerning the role of technology in both traditional and high-tech criminal conduct prompted Congress to enact the first federal computer crime law thirty years ago. Over the course of thirty years, federal computer crimes went from non-existent to touching on every aspect of computer activity for intensive and occasional users alike. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was enacted in 1986, as an amendment to the first federal computer fraud law, to address hacking. Over the years, it has been amended several times, most recently in 2008, to cover a broad range of conduct far beyond its original intent. The CFAA prohibits intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization (“Criminal Defense Issues”, n.d.).

The UK has the most well-known relevant act called the Computer Misuse Act 1990, which restricts unauthorized access to computer material, unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences, and unauthorized acts with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, operation of compute. The Police and Justice Act amends the Computer Misuse Act to include unauthorized acts with intent to impair operation of computer which effectively adds Denial-of-Service attacks as an offence. The amendment makes explicit that the offence does not have to be against a specific computer, program or data. Additionally it states that an offence is caused even if Denial-of-Service is only temporary (HollyGraceful, 2016).

The U.S. Fraud and Abuse act is really full of ambiguity and not specific. The Act does not define and detail about “Unauthorized act.” Whereas the UK clearly defines each point what the rules does regarding hacking crime. Unauthorized act is well defined and stated in the UK Computer Misuse act than in the U.S. law. Therefore, I would say the U.S. law is not effective in mitigating cybercriminals.

Criminal Defense Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nacdl.org/cfaa/

HollyGarceful. (2016, June 15). UK Cyber Crime Law. Retrieved from https://www.gracefulsecurity.com/uk-cyber-crime-law/