Regulation of Hi-Tech Crimes Under Australian law

A report out from pclbcriminallawyers.com.au says that high tech crimes, also known as hi-tech crimes, are defined in Commonwealth legislation within Part 10.7 – Computer Offences of the Criminal Code Act 1995 as specific computer related offences, such as computer intrusions, or, in other words, malicious hacking, unauthorised modification of data, involving destruction of data, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks using botnets, and the creation and distribution of malicious software, such as worms, viruses, Trojans. In Australia, each state and territory has enacted its own legislative framework that regulates computer-related offences. These frameworks resemble the Commonwealth legislation.

Computer intrusion is the first and foremost type of high tech crimes under Australia’s law. Australian statutes define computer intrusion as any unauthorised access to any computer or network of computers. The crime of computer intrusion may be manifested in different forms. Thus, it might take the form of hacking of free email services. The State or Territory police usually deal with the matters of hacking in cases when the perpetrator resides in Australia. In the majority of cases, Australian law enforcement agencies will be devoid of jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute cases of hacking when the perpetrator resides overseas.