ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the law's basic protection for computing systems: criminalisation of attacks on their functioning and integrity, and of the use of computing technology to attack firms or steal their money. It first considers wrongful access to computers; then damage to or impairment of computers; then computer theft and fraud; and, finally, spam. Most of this concerns the criminal law, though protection in the civil law is also briefly considered. One of the most basic legal protections afforded to the owner of a computer is to protect the data on it by penalising those who access it without proper authority. Under the UK offence, lack of authorisation is part of the actus reus, and 'knowledge that any modification he intends to cause is unauthorised' is part of the mens rea. Both the Irish and the UK legislation give their courts jurisdiction if either the defendant did the relevant act within the jurisdiction, or the damage occurred within the jurisdiction.
