Most nations have weak laws against cybercrime

The report, by US-based McConnell International, argues for tighter regulation by governments. It looked at ten different types of cyber crime in four categories:

• data-related crimes, including interception, modification, and theft;
• network-related crimes, including interference and sabotage;
• crimes of access, including hacking and virus distribution; and
• associated computer-related crimes, including aiding and abetting cyber criminals, computer fraud, and computer forgery.

The countries analysed included the UK, the US, Japan, France, Italy, New Zealand and Australia, to determine whether their laws had been amended to cover these crimes.

According to the report, 33 of the 52 countries surveyed have not yet updated their laws to address any type of cybercrime. Of the remaining countries, 10 have enacted legislation to address five or fewer types of cyber crime, and 9 have updated their laws to prosecute against 6 or more of the 10 types.

Of those countries, only the Philippines indicated that updated legislation is currently in place to prosecute a future perpetrator of all identified types of crime. This legislation was enacted following the country’s recognition that it had no laws suitable to prosecute for the Love Bug virus which was released from the Philippines in May this year causing damage to computer systems around the world.