TOPIC 2

COMPUTER CRIMES
(PART A)

P R E PA R E D B Y H A S H V I N I R E K H A PA C H A P PA N
& D R . M A N I Q U E C O O R AY
 Pornography
and
obscenity

Online
Hacking
Gambling

EXAMPLES
OF
COMPUTER
CRIMES

Online
Spoofing
defamation

Phishing
TYPES OF COMPUTER CRIMES

What is “Hacking”/ “Unauthorised access to computer material”?

• Hacking means gaining unauthorized access to any computer
system with or without intention to commit further offence
(David I BainBridge, Introduction to Computer Law, 4th ed.,
(England: Pearson Education, 2000)
EARLY DAYS OF “HACKING”
• A creative programmer who wrote very elegant or clever programs.
• A “good hack” was an especially clever piece of code. Hackers have been
called “computer virtuous.”
• Outside the social mainstream, spending many hours learning as much as they
could about computer systems and making them to new things.
• High school and college students who “hacked” the computers at their school.
• Primarily in learning and in intellectual challenges and the thrill of going where
they did not belong.
• Most had no intention of disrupting services.
• Create great trouble to online business
• As more computers became attached to enterprise.
networks, hacker activities expanded to the • Online enterprises are required to spend
networks and the work hacker often suggest millions of dollars to investigate.
breaking into computers on which the hacker • Sometime they steal credit card numbers of
did not have legitimate access. customers which the business companies store
• Brought a sense of accomplishment. Some in their computer database
people use the term “cracker” for those who
break into systems without authorization to
steal or cause damage. One writer describes
crackers simply as “mean spirited hackers.”
• Usually the computer hackers’ intention is to
modify or erase the information or data kept in
the computer or to commit computer frauds.
 COMPUTER CRIMES ACT 1997

Defined in s 2(1) CCA 1997.

• What is “computer”?
This definition appears to be
derivative of the definition set
out in the American legislation
on computer fraud and abuse.
S3.UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO COMPUTER MATERIAL

Section 3 of the Act provides for offences of unauthorized access to computer material. It reads:
(1) A person shall be guilty of an offence it:
(a)he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to
any program or data held in any computer;
(b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorized; and
(c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that that is
the case.
(2) the intent a person has to have to commit an offence under this section need not be directed
at-
(a) any particular program or data
(b) a program or data or any particular kind; or
(c) a program or data held in any particular computer.
CASES TO REFER

• CREATIVE PURPOSE SDN BHD & ANOR V INTEGRATED TRANS CORP SDN BHD &
ORS [1997] 2 MLJ 429
• R V GOLD AND ANOTHER [1988] 2 ALL ER 186