Jail terms loom for computer hackers

Computer hacking is likely to become punishable by imprisonment under proposed Government legislation.

Information Technology and Associate Justice Minister Paul Swain hopes to add the legislation to the Crimes Amendment Bill - now before a parliamentary committee - which in turn would be added to the Crimes Act.

"There will be a new offence to the Crimes Act, which is unauthorised access to a computer, which is computer hacking," Mr Swain said.

"The objective really is to show that the Government is serious about this issue."

He said many people did not consider hacking a big problem. Computer systems in particular were seen as fair game.

"What we're saying is that this is potentially one of the big crimes that face global commerce ... the viruses that hit, the fact that people are now trying to hack into databases.

"This is very serious and we want to demonstrate we are serious about this and ... to make it a criminal offence."

He said hacking penalties were likely to range from fines to up to two years' prison.

A discussion paper had gone to Government agencies, as well as some private sector organisations.

Mr Swain expects a final report from the Ministry of Justice by the end of the month and hopes to add the legislation to the bill by September.

"Basically, what we're doing is picking up on the work that [former Justice Minister] Tony Ryall had begun," Mr Swain said.

"I think there is cross-party support here for this piece of legislation."

- NZPA