Laws, tactics and imprisonment surrending cyber crimes in the UK Literature review

Laws, tactics and imprisonment surrending cyber crimes in the UK - Literature review Example Initially, the Act contained the three criminal offences of unauthorised access to computer and computer material, illegal; access with intent to commit and/or facilitate the commission of further offences and unauthorised modification of computer material. Later, in 2006, the Police and Criminal Justice Act amended the Computer Misuse Act. This amendment added a new section dealing with the offences of making, supplying and obtaining articles for use in computer misuse. To make the Act more effective, there is a proposal for the Act to be amended to target hackers that instigate serious attacks on computers on critical infrastructure with life imprisonment. This Act details all the offences associated with hacking and all the malware used in breaching computer systems. Regrettably, the Act is not encompassing enough to deal with cyber attacks that threaten national security. Currently, it addresses issues of unauthorised access to computer material or another persons user ID and password and further crimes upon gaining unauthorised entry into another person’s computer (www.gov.uk, 2014b). In this context, the Act addresses crimes such as stealing money or data and information from another’s computer system, spreading viruses and deleting files (Brenner, 2007). The maximum sentence for these offences is ten years. Fortunately, the Queen proposed the Serious Crime Bill, which will add a new offence of unauthorised acts causing serious damage in the Computer Misuse Act. The new offence encompasses more heinous cyber attacks on sensitive and essential systems of power supply, communications, and food or fuel distribution. Also addressed in the proposed Act are cyber crimes that would result in loss of life, social disruption or damage to the economy, environment or national security and serious injury (Brenner, 2007). The proposed Act’s