Parliament hears bill on stricter punishment for cyber crimes
The bill brings local legislation closer to the Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe, the interior ministry said. Photo: jaydeep_ under Creative Commons.
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The Georgian parliament is hearing a bill by the Ministry of Internal Affairs designed to provide stricter criminal punishment for cyber crimes including hacking for financial gain and creation of fake data.
The provision is designed to introduce two new articles into the criminal code. The first of these outlines punishment for acts of hacking into computer systems and/or obtaining data for monetary gain.
In comments about the bill the interior ministry said the article was aiming to involve stricter punishment for these acts compared to "other cyber crimes".
Creation of fake computer data is the second article included in the initiative and would now be tied to criminal responsibility if the lawmaking move is accepted.
In the third change introduced by the bill, cyber crime against critical infrastructure would be designated as aggravated circumstance for those charged with it.
The ministry said the initiative would serve to bring local cyber crime laws close to the Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the ruling Georgian Dream party have reported ongoing cyber attacks on their websites on Tuesday, with party chairperson Mamuka Mdinaradze telling local media the "massed" digital operation was aimed at "destabilising" the political situation in the country.
Police have detained a Georgian citizen for cyber crimes in Tbilisi, Interior Ministry reported yesterday. The ministry said the individual, identified only as A.B. and born in 2000, fraudulently accessed the Facebook accounts of 25 people between December 2019 and May 2020.
Georgian police have detained an Indian citizen for illegally accessing computer systems, extraction and misuse of computer data and theft. The crime is punishable by three to five years in prison.
US online media outlet ZDNet has reported that voter information for more than 4.9 million Georgians, including deceased citizens, has been published on a hacking forum on Saturday.
Police have detained five individuals for unauthorized access to computer systems and fraud in Tbilisi, Gori and the western municipality of Tsalenjikha.
The Georgian State Security Service on Friday said it had prevented a cyberattack on the official website of the Administration of the country’s President.