Computer Misuse Act 1990

Made: 29-06-1990 | Laid: 29-06-1990 | Forced: 29-06-1990

Overview

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 sets out offences regarding the unauthorised access to computer material. A person will be guilty of an offence if they:

Cause a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer
Gain or secure unauthorised access, and,
Know at the time when they do so, that that is the case

An organisation will be implicated if they allow an employee to commit the offence using their equipment, and they are at risk of anyone accessing their computer material with the intent of causing harm.

Background

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA) was designed to protect computer users against theft of information and malicious attacks. The legislation is generally believed to stem from a court case in 1988, where two journalists, who were both computer enthusiasts, managed to access Prince Philip’s email account, which was hosted on British Telecom’s (BT’s) Prestel Viewdata service. Once this unauthorised access was discovered, it became clear there was no existing law that covered this type of activity by the journalists. This subsequently led to the drawing up of the Computer Misuse Act in 1990.

Since 1990, the CMA has been updated several times in step with changes in technology and criminal activity, as well as giving courts increased sentencing powers. Offences under the act now include hacking, intentionally spreading malicious and damaging software, referred to as ‘malware’, and spreading ‘viruses’. The penalty for committing offences under the CMA range from a fine to imprisonment.