The British government has proposed sharply increasing penaltiesfor computer crimes that are taking a financial toll on U.K.businesses.
The Police and Justice Bill would amend the Computer Misuse Act of1990, a Home Office spokeswoman said Friday. It would increase themaximum penalty for unauthorized modification of a computer fromfive years to 10 years, a provision that would cover all forms ofDDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks, she said.
If passed into law, those convicted of unauthorized access to acomputer could face up to a two-year prison sentence, up from sixmonths.
“Over the last 18 months there have been a lot of high-profile DOSattacks which have in turn been accompanied by extortion requestsagainst U.K. online bookmakers,” the spokeswoman said.
The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit estimated e-crime cost U.K.-basedcompanies with more than 1,000 employees