Since the whole idea of cybercrime is still considered by some as a relatively new crime (…even though it is a multi-billion dollar industry), the laws are still pretty light on the subject.  I mean, hackers can steal millions of people’s identities and face only 5 years (according to this article) in prison?  Heck, on a federal level, hackers can even face down to 6 months in prison for hacking.
I don’t know about you, but that seems pretty lax compared to other crimes.  Maybe if we beef this up a little, hackers may be more intimidated for pursuing cybercrime?  Then again, they probably have the mentality of “don’t fear the actions; fear getting caught”.

After tracking hundreds of leads over several months, law-enforcement authorities finally tracked down the computer hacker they believe to be responsible for the February cyber-attacks against CNN, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon.com and other well-known Web sites.

Perhaps the most disquieting revelation in the wake of the arrest is that the culprit who inconvenienced millions of Internet users was no computer wiz — no Bill Gates gone bad.

Rather, he was merely a mischievous 15-year-old Montreal youth operating under the computer handle “Mafiaboy” and with far too much idle time on his hands.

“It is our estimation that Mafiaboy wasn’t that good,” said Jean-Pierre Roy, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which arrested the teenaged hacker nine days ago. “He wasn’t what we would call a genius.”[more]

Tags: Lawsuits