This document summarizes computer misuse and criminal law relating to unauthorized computer access and hacking. It discusses three categories of computer misuse under the UK Computer Misuse Act of 1990 - accessing computer material without permission, accessing with intent to commit crimes, and altering computer data without permission. Punishments for these offenses include fines and prison time. The document also outlines various types of computer crimes like fraud, eavesdropping, hacking, copyright infringement, and viruses. It discusses laws governing computer-enabled crimes and measures for preventing misuse like the Data Protection Act, copyright law, closing abusive chat rooms, reducing email spam, and maintaining security.

2. April 17, 2018
Computer Misuse &
Criminal Law

3. ZAHEER IRSHAD 14-UGLC-847
Muqaddas Ali 14-UGLC-842
Muhammad Awais 14-UGLC-803
Presented to:
Miss. Sana Saeed
Presented by:
BS Software Engineering (2014-2018)
Department of Computer Science & Information Technology
University of Sargodha, Lyallpur Campus, Faisalabad.

4. Introduction
The media and popular computing press abound with tales of multi-million
pound computer frauds and of the dangers to commercial companies,
governmental data banks, financial institutions and national security from the
activities of computer hackers.
1) Accessing computer material without permission, eg looking at someone
else's files.
2) Accessing computer material without permission with intent to commit
further criminal offences, eg hacking into the bank's computer and wanting
to increase the amount in your account.
3) Altering computer data without permission, eg writing a virus to destroy
someone else's data, or actually changing the money in an account.

5. The offences are punishable as follows:
 Offence 1. Up to 6 months' prison and up to £5,000 in fines.
 Offences 2 and 3. Up to 5 years in prison and any size of fine (there is
no limit).
Punishment

6. Categories of Misuse
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA) is an act of the UK Parliament
passed in 1990. CMA is designed to frame legislation and controls over
computer crime and Internet fraud.
 Computer Fraud
 Eavesdropping on a computer
 Unauthorized alteration or destruction of information stored on a
computer
 Denying access to an authorized user
 The unauthorized removal of information stored on a computer

7. Categories of Misuse
 Hacking
 Copying and distributing copyrighted software, music and film
 Email and chat room abuses
 Pornography
 Extreme material
 Identity and financial abuses
 Fraud and theft
 Viruses

8. Computer Fraud:
 The Law Commission defined computer fraud as conduct which involves the
manipulation of a computer or internet, by whatever method, in order dishonestly to
obtain money, property, or some other advantage of value, or to cause loss
 Computer fraud is further divided into three categories:
 Input frauds
e.g. intentionally entering false data or amending data into the computer
 Output frauds
Output fraud involves stealing or misusing system output
 Program frauds
Program fraud involves the dishonest alteration of a computer program

9. Unauthorized obtaining of information from a computer:
 Copying and illegal transfer of data is very quick and easy using online
computers and large storage devices such as hard disks, memory sticks
and DVDs. Personal data, company research and written work, such as
novels and textbooks, cannot be copied without the copyright holder's
permission.
Eavesdropping:
 Literal meaning listening or spying secretly

10. Hacking:
 Hacking is where an unauthorized person uses a network, Internet or modem
connection to gain access past security passwords or other security to see data
stored on another computer. Hackers sometimes use software hacking tools and
often target, for example, particular sites on the Internet.

12. Copying and distributing copyrighted software, music and film:
This includes copying music and movies with computer equipment and
distributing it on the Internet without the copyright holder's permission. This is a
widespread misuse of both computers and the Internet that breaks copyright
regulations.
Email and chat room abuses:
 Internet services such as chat rooms and
email have been the subject of many
well-publicised cases of impersonation and
deception where people who are online
pretend to have a different identity.
Chat rooms have been used to spread
rumors about well known personalities. A growing area of abuse of the Internet is
email spam, where millions of emails are sent to advertise both legal and illegal
products and services.

13. Internet Resources
1. Surface Web
2. Deep Web
3. Dark Web

15. PORNOGRAPHY:
 A lot of indecent material and pornography is available through the Internet and
can be stored in electronic form. There have been several cases of material, which
is classified as illegal, or which shows illegal acts, being found stored on computers
followed by prosecutions for possession of the material.

16. IDENTITY AND FINANCIAL ABUSES:
 This topic includes misuse of stolen or fictional credit card numbers to obtain goods
or services on the Internet, and use of computers in financial frauds. These can range
from complex well thought out deceptions to simple uses such as printing counterfeit
money with colour printers.

17. VIRUSES:
 Viruses are relatively simple programs written by people and designed to cause
nuisance or damage to computers or their files.

18. Criminal Law
 In the past, the Criminal Law in relation to computers was unreliable.
1980's saw an increase in the use of computer systems and networks. It
soon became apparent that the existing laws such as the Theft Act and
the Criminal Damage Act were inadequate as a deterrent or suitable
remedy.
 From the industry, businesses and lobbying by some MP's to curtail
such problems resulted in the Computer Misuse Act (1990), a vital
piece of legislation that provided new offences of unauthorized
modification of computer material.

19. Criminal Law
At present, computer-enabled crimes, involving the use of computers to commit forgery, fraud,
obscenity and hate speech, criminal damage or copyright violation, are all covered by the
following UK laws:
 The Theft Act 1968 (on fraud)
 The Telecommunications Act 1984 (section 42 relating to deception and section 43 relating to
obscene material)
 The Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981
 The Protection of Children Act 1978, the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Criminal Justice
and Public Order Act 1994 (all on child pornography)
 The Public Order Act 1986 (on racist material)
 The Criminal Damage Act 1977 (to cover physical damage to computer systems)
 The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

20. PREVENTING MISUSE
The Data Protection Act:
 This was introduced to regulate personal data. This helps to provide protection
against the abuse of personal information. Find out more about the DataProtection
Act.
Copyright law:
 This provides protection to the owners of the copyright and covers the copying of
written, musical, or film works using computers. FAST is the industry body which is
against software theft. You can find out more about it in the Copyright section.
 There have been cases where laws such as Copyright have been used to crack down
on file sharing websites or individuals who store and illegally distribute copyrighted
material, eg music. There is a massive problem with many people around the world
obtaining copyrighted material illegally.

21. Close down chat rooms:
 Some chat rooms have been closed down due to abuses, especially where children
are vulnerable. Some have moderators who help to prevent abuses. Advice about
sensible use is important; especially to never give personal contact details or arrange
meetings without extreme caution.
Reduce email spamming:
 This may be reduced by:
never replying to anonymous emails setting filters on email accounts reporting
spammers to ISPs, who are beginning to get together to blacklist email Abusers
governments passing laws to punish persistent spammers with heavy fines
Regular backups and security:
 Just making something illegal or setting up regulations does not stop it happening.
Responsible computer users need to take reasonable steps to keep their data safe.
This includes regular backups and sufficient security with passwords.

22. Any Question?