UK delays anti-hacking laws

The Home Office has again postponed legislation to amend the Computer Misuse Act which would in particular address the need for the criminalisation of denial of service attacks and the selling of hacking tools. The delay is caused by a fear that the changes might overlap with the Serious Crime Bill and criminalise legitimate security professionals.

Predictably, shadow home affairs spokesman James Brokenshire has criticised the delay, stating that it suggested that the UK was a “soft touch on cyber crime” and that “current Government inaction and inertia is putting us all at greater risk.”

The announcement of the delay coincides with a reminder from the US of the risks of cyber crime. Michael Chertoff, the US Homeland Security Secretary, this week compared the potential effects of cyber crime on the United States to the tragic effects of 9/11. Speaking at the RSA Conference in San Francisco he commented that "we take threats to the cyber world as seriously as we take threats to the material world".