Computer Misuse Act 1990

Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA)

• See also Computer Misuse Act reform
• See also Police and Justice Act 2006
• Computer Misuse Act 1990 - legislation.gov.uk
• Computer Misuse Act 1990 - Wikipedia
• CPS Guidance
• Computer Misuse Act 1990 cases

Cases

Computer Misuse Act 1990 cases, England and Wales since 2003

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Proceeded against	19	21	24	25	19	17	19	10	11	25	55	53	57
Found Guilty	5	12	16	18	10	12	10	18	11	27	40	38	35
Conviction Ratio %	26.3	57.1	66.7	72.0	52.6	70.6	52.6	180	100	108	72.7

Source: Hansard 1990-2015 2014,2015 (Proceeding and verdicts may go across years resulting in apparent differences in numbers.)

National Fraud Intelligence Bureau codes for Computer Misuse Act offences

NFIB Code	Description
NFIB50A	Computer Viruses/Malware
NFIB51A	Denial of Service Attack
NFIB51B	Denial of Service Attack (Extortion)
NFIB52	Computer Hacking
NFIB52A	Hacking - Server
NFIB52B	Hacking - Personal
NFIB52C	Hacking - Social media and email
NFIB52D	Hacking - PBX/Dial Through
NFIB52E	Hacking (Extortion)

Source: Counting rules for recorded crime GOV.UK

Notable cases

• R v Paul Bedworth (1991) - first CMA trail
• R. v Cuthbert (2005)
• R v Glenn Mangham (2012)

Offences committed before 2008

Prior to the passing of the Police Reform Act 2006 summary offences would need to be prosecuted within three years of a crime being committed. After 1 October 2018 (1 October 2017 in Scotland) CMA offences could be tried "on indictment" not subject to the limits on summary offences.

Links

• Cambridge Computer Crime Database