Updates to the Computer Misuse Act will come into force today, with penalties for hacking and denial of service attacks being increased by the government, it has emerged.

The legislation, which was enacted in 1990 before the internet was in the public domain, was modified in 2006 under the Police and Justice Act and the year after under the Serious Crime Act, with the bills delayed until today to avoid confusion.

Included in the update is an increased maximum prison sentence for the unauthorised access of a computer from six months to two years.

Denial of service attacks can now result in ten years behind bars, with the distribution of hacking tools for criminal purposes receiving an outright ban but still allowing "white hat" penetration testers the right to check system security.

Last month, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly had his website hacked by a group who then posted the details of subscribers on the main page.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'