EU Increases Prison Sentences for Hackers

They don't want their own Snowdens

The European Union has decided to raise prison sentences for people found guilty of hacking, data breaches, and cyberattacks.

Lawmakers from the 28 nations in the EU decided Thursday, in a 541-91 vote, to assign harsher penalties for various cybercrimes, according to Reuters. Included in the increased prison sentences are at least two years for illegally accessing information systems and at least five years for cyberattacks against infrastructure, such as power plants, water systems, and transportation networks.

The lawmakers agreed that the most egregious crimes are those that breach the countries' infrastructure networks and the theft of sensitive data from computer systems.