The new Terrorism Act 2000 recently introduced by the government which includes the act of computer hacking for the first time is unlikely to deter most ordinary hackers, state legal and technical experts.

What this new legislation does is in fact highlight that the government is now realising how e-security is a real threat to UK businesses if not dealt with appropriately.

What is stated clearly in the Act is that not all hacking amounts to terrorism unless it is aimed at trying to influence the government.

Even though this new Act has been acknowledged as a welcome against the threat of cyberterrorism, this is not seen as a deterrent. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is supposed to target computer crime in the UK, falls short when combatting hacking.

Legal experts state that this Act makes it difficult to prosecute someone successfully, whereas the Terrorism Act could only deal with those hackers that carry out web attacks with political messages.