Computer Misuse Act crumbles as DoS attacker walks free

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 3 Nov 2005 at 12:40

The venerable Computer Misuse Act (CMA) crumbled on Tuesday as a teenager accused of sending millions of emails to a former employer walked free.

District Judge Kenneth Grant of Wimbledon Magistrates Court ruled that the sending of some five million emails in order to take down an email server did not constitute unauthorised access or modification of computer systems, with which he was charged.

The Judge concluded that this set the precedent that Denial Of Service attacks of this nature did not contravene the CMA, which, now 15 years old, was never concieved to deal with this type of threat.

As such the accused did not even have to take the witness stand and walked free from court.

The All Party Internet Group (APIG) has been the most active proponent for updating the CMA. Chairman Derek Wyatt MP proposed a series of APIG amendments to the CMA as a 10-minute rule bill in April.

Although the bill met no opposition, it ran out of parliamentary time. It is scheduled for a second hearing in December.

The amendments criminalise Denial of Service attacks explicitly, as well making other changes such as increasing sentences to two years, meaning suspects can be extradited.