No more Mr Nice Guy: UK gets tough on hi-tech criminals

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 1, 2003

Welsh virus-writer shown justice, not mercy

London’s Court of Appeal has turned down Welsh virus writer Simon Vallor’s appeal to shorten his two-year custodial sentence. Vallor, who was convicted on three counts of releasing a computer virus contravening the Computer Misuse Act 1990, claimed at the time (as is the virus writer’s wont) that he had been ignorant of the extent of damage his actions would cause. At the Court of Appeal, Vallor’s counsel argued that the 22-year-old’s sentence should be shortened on account of his relative youth, previous good character and the fact he cooperated with the police.

Unfortunately for Vallor, the judges failed to be moved by the argument. Mr Justice Aikens deemed Vallor’s acts to be both calculated and disruptive and dismissed the appeal. VB applauds the Court of Appeal for standing firm — the deterrent effect of the few cases in which virus writers have been successfully prosecuted appears to be low already, without offenders being let off their full sentences for such insubstantial reasons.

Meanwhile, the British Home Office has announced plans for a new e-crime strategy aimed at increasing the number of hi-tech criminals that are caught and prosecuted. The strategy will focus on both old crimes committed using new technology, and newer crimes, such as denial of service attacks and hacking. It will also provide an analysis of the current and likely future nature of e-crime, producing a framework for Government, law enforcement agencies and industry, and will ensure that existing international agreements, such as the EU Framework Decision on Attacks Against Information Systems stand up to the challenges posed by hi-tech crime. Junior Home Office Minister Caroline Flint said: ‘The Government has invested £25 million in combating hi-tech crime, setting up the National Hi-tech Crime Unit, within the National Crime Squad, and helping local forces to fight e-crime. But we need to do more, and [to] coordinate and focus our efforts. Our e-crime strategy will bring together industry and law enforcement agencies to deliver an enhanced and robust response to the prevention, detection and prosecution of e-crime.’ The strategy is scheduled to be produced by February 2004.

With recent reports (see http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/pressrel/uk/20030630topten.html) suggesting that the number of new viruses in the first six months of this year is up 17.5% on the same period last year, any plans to crack down further on virus writers are certainly welcome. However, whether virus writers are likely to be deterred by this news would seem doubtful — we can only hope that once the strategy is put into effect we will see a significant increase in the number of successful prosecutions and a corresponding impact on the virus-writing community.

Posted on 01 August 2003 by Virus Bulletin

 Tags

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.