ABSTRACT
Computers provide a low-cost and often easy route to committing crimes, either within the target computer system itself or through use of the computer to commit other crimes. This chapter looks at some of these crimes and what legislatures have done to punish them. It also looks at what companies can and should do to protect themselves and communicate to then-staffs their obligations and responsibilities in this area, and at the effect of undesirable high tech behaviour on the development of new technologies. Computer crime is a serious threat to every organisation which uses automated systems. It is a threat which will grow with time, and which will be accompanied by an ever-increasing potential for damage and loss. Prosecution continues to be an extremely difficult problem in the area of computer crime. The chapter discuses the main legislative provision in the area of computer crime, the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
