Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

CRIMINAL CODE 2002 - SECT 415

    (1)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person causes—

              (i)     unauthorised access to data held in a computer; or

              (ii)     unauthorised modification of data held in a computer, or

              (iii)     unauthorised impairment of electronic communication to or from a computer; and

        (b)     the person knows the access, modification or impairment is unauthorised; and

        (c)     the person intends to commit, or enable the commission of, a serious offence (by the person or by someone else).

Maximum penalty: the maximum penalty applicable if the person had committed, or enabled the commission of, the serious offence in the ACT.

    (2)     In a prosecution for an offence against this section it is not necessary to prove that the defendant knew that the offence was a serious offence.

    (3)     A person can be found guilty of an offence against this section—

        (a)     even if committing the serious offence is impossible; or

        (b)     whether the serious offence is to be committed at the time of the unauthorised conduct or at a later time.

    (4)     It is not an offence to attempt to commit an offence against this section.

    (5)     In this section:

"serious offence" means an offence punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or longer, and includes an offence in another jurisdiction that would be a serious offence if committed in the ACT.