Computer Misuse Act 1990

Legislation relevant to Computer Science: Computer Misuse Act 1990

1.6.1 Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impact

Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impact — Note 4 of 6

What you need to know

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes it illegal to access or modify computer data without authorisation. It covers several offences of increasing severity, from simple unauthorised access to causing serious damage.

What to know

logging into someones account without permission
accessing a system in order to commit another crime, such as stealing money
deliberately damaging, disrupting, or infecting computer systems
causing serious harm through attacks on important systems, such as hospitals
making or sharing tools designed for hacking or computer misuse

Exam technique

Tip:You need to describe the offence AND give an EXAMPLE. Exam questions often present a scenario and ask which offence applies.
Mistake:Listing offences without examples. Always include a specific scenario/example for each one.
Tip:Note — if someone leaves their computer logged in and another person leaves a message on their desktop, this IS Computer Misuse Act (unauthorised use of someone else's account).

Example:Computer Misuse Act applies when — a student guesses a teacher's password and accesses their account, a secretary accesses a lawyer's personal email without permission, or someone installs a keylogger on another's computer.

Ready to test yourself?

Practise 1.6.1 questions

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