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The Home Office confirmed to OUT-LAW.COM that the long-awaited changes will not happen now as planned, but in October. It had previously said that the changes would be implemented in spring of this year.
The changes are already in force in Scotland. A Statutory Instrument was passed last year which brought them into force on 1st October 2007.
The changes will make clear that denial of service attacks are illegal. Such attacks can disable a website or computer network through the automated sending of countless, near-simultaneous messages which clog up a network.
The changes will also make it an offence to distribute tools which are "likely" to be used for hacking computer networks. This part of the law has been controversial because experts have warned that it could criminalise some research into hacking.
Anyone found guilty of launching a denial of service attack could be imprisoned for up to 10 years. The new law also increases the maximum sentence for unauthorised access to computer networks from six months to two years.
