Malware Development Becomes Illegal in Japan

The Japanese parliament enacted new legislation that makes malware development a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

Up until now, malware writers could be prosecuted only on destruction of property charges if their creations actually caused damage.

Under the revised provisions of the Penal Code adopted with support from both the ruling party and the opposition, those who create computer malware can face sentences of up to three years in prison and fines of up to 500,000 yen (US$6,200).

The law will also give authorities the power to request the email communications of those suspected of such crimes from ISPs, a decision that stirred a privacy controversy in the country.

Furthermore, those who acquire or store computer viruses are also targeted by the new law. Being found guilty of such an offense can carry a sentence of up to two years in prison and a ¥300,000 fine.

"One hopes that common sense will prevail and that those with a legitimate reason to store and acquire malware (anti-virus vendors for instance!) don't find themselves facing such charges," notes Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

Malware development might not be as popular in Japan as in other parts of the world, like Eastern Europe, Russia, or Brazil, but it does exist. Last year we reported about a Japanese malware coder being arrested for creating the "ika-tako" (squid-octopus) virus and spreading it over file-sharing networks.

The vxer was previously convicted in 2008 for writing another destructive piece of malware called Harada which replaced numerous files with images of a comic book character.

Symantec just reported a few days ago that a zero-day vulnerability in the popular Itchitaro Japanese word processor was being exploited in targeted attacks to infect users with a trojan.