US Government Pushes 20-Year Sentences for Cyber Attack Offenders

Even before a loosely organized group of hackers broke into the CIA's and Senate's public websites, the White House asked for stiffer sentences for breaking into government and private computer networks. Last month the Obama administration pressed Congress to pass stronger cybersecurity measures, including a doubling of the maximum sentence for potentially endangering national security to 20 years in prison.

While it remains to be seen if the proposal will become law, the question of how to fight cyber-crime has risen to the fore in recent weeks with a spate of high-profile, and sometimes, sophisticated, attacks.