Cyber Crime in South Africa - Hacking, cracking, and other unlawful online activities

This paper aims to give a broad overview of how South African law dealt with Cyber Crime from a common law perspective and also the new cyber crime provisions in the Electronic Communications Transactions Act, Act 25 of 2002. The paper focuses on the statutory defined crimes and then also gives provisions on the value and evidential weight of electronic data during criminal proceedings. The paper also covers the powers of 'Cyber inspectors' as well as discusses how the ECT has given our South African Court's broader jurisdiction when adjudicating Cybercrimes due to its borderless nature. The Article concludes with some brief comparative law from the EU and US and concluding remarks.