Cybercrime and the Law: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the 116th Congress

"The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, is a civil and criminal cybercrime law prohibiting a variety of computer-related conduct. Although sometimes described as an anti-hacking law, the CFAA is much broaderin scope. Indeed, it prohibits seven categories of conduct including, with certain exceptions and conditions:

1. Obtaining national security information through unauthorized computer access and sharing or retaining it; 2. Obtaining certain types of information through unauthorized computer access;
3. Trespassing in a government computer;
4. Engaging in computer-based frauds through unauthorized computer access;
5. Knowingly causing damage to certain computers by transmission of a program, information, code, or command;
6. Trafficking in passwords or other means of unauthorized access to a computer; 7. Making extortionate threats to harm a computer or based on information obtained through unauthorized access to a computer..."
Cybercrime and the law