ECT Act may be used against Absa hacker

18/09/2003 Written by Paul Vecchiatto, ITWEB Cape Town Correspondent

The West­ern Cape Direc­torate of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions is con­sid­er­ing lay­ing charges in terms of the Elec­tronic Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Trans­ac­tions (ECT) Act against the accused “Absa hacker” Johan Jacobus Fourie, who made his fourth court appear­ance this week.

Advo­cate Anthony Stephen, who heads up the state’s case against Fourie, says: “We are con­sid­er­ing alter­na­tive charges, includ­ing con­spir­acy to com­mit the crimes and charges in terms of the ECT Act.”

If the state does lay charges against Fourie, it will be the first time that spe­cific pro­vi­sions relat­ing to hack­ing would be used in the coun­try. The ECT Act was signed into law at the end of last year.

In terms of the Act, unau­tho­rised access includes the actions of a per­son who, after tak­ing note of any data, becomes aware of the fact that he or she is not autho­rised to access that data and still con­tin­ues to access it. The offence car­ries a penalty of not exceed­ing five years in jail.

Fourie’s case has been post­poned a num­ber of times as his orig­i­nal defence coun­sel with­drew after the defen­dant ran out of money. A new coun­sel has been appointed and a bail hear­ing has been set for 29 Sep­tem­ber.

Fourie is charged with defraud­ing 10 Absa clients involv­ing about R609 714 between May and July. Most of the stolen funds were spent on con­sumer goods includ­ing 10 lap­top PCs, while amounts totalling R76 025 were allegedly deposited into Fourie’s account.

Stephen says the pros­e­cu­tion is still con­sid­er­ing bring­ing charges against other peo­ple who were pos­si­bly involved with Fourie.

We still have plenty of time to make up our minds, he says.