Italian Government Proposes Much Harsher Jail Sentences for Cyber Criminals

Italian authorities are preparing to change the law and adopt much more drastic punishments for cybercrimes, depending on the severity of the attack.

Criminals don't usually attack companies or organizations in the country they reside in. In fact, the attacks often stem from outside of regular jurisdictions. But that's not always the case, and sometimes law enforcement does manage to make arrests or extradite suspects.

According to a Reuters report, the Italian authorities are determined to increase the penalties for cybercrimes, in some cases substantially. For example, just breaking into an organization's network would be punishable with a minimum of two years in jail and a maximum of 12 years.

The harsher punishment would be applicable if the criminal used the threat of force or if the targets included public officials. The same would be true if the attackers endanger national security or public interest in any way.

As it stands now, similar offenses would only land a criminal in jail for between one and eight years. Another provision, designed to encourage the criminals to cooperate with authorities, is the promise of a maximum reduction of two-thirds of the sentence.

Another interest provision covers the affected organization, which will be required to announce any security incident to the National Cybersecurity Agency within 24 hours. Measures taken to fix the problems that led to the breach in the first place would have to be deployed in a maximum of 15 days.

For now, this new set of laws is still being drafted by the Italian government, and they still need to be ratified by Parliament to take effect.