DoS attackers face 10 years in gaol

Posted on 14 Nov 2008 at 10:40

Laws criminalising denial of service attacks and the distribution of hacking tools has finally come into effect in England and Wales. The amendments to the Computer Misuse Act were passed in 2006 and came into effect in Scotland last year.

The legislation makes it an offence to launch a denial of service (DoS) attack, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. It also increases maximum penalty for unauthorised access to computer material to two years in gaol and a fine.

DoS attacks are typically launched by sending emails or requesting web pages in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the server so that it no longer functions.

The second change to the Act makes it an offence to make, adapt, supply or offer to supply any software or data that could be used for unauthorised modification of computer systems or software or for making a DoS attack. Anyone convicted faces up to two years in prison.

This change has been criticised by security researchers who feel it could affect their ability to monitor security vulnerabilities.

Security firms who provide information about security flaw, only to find that information is used by hackers to exploit the flaw, could be in breach of the new law, according to Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton

“The difficulty in the Act is that it says ‘any item’ and people are worried that that might include information about a piece of software’s security vulnerability,” he said.

Author: Simon Aughton

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