What are the penalties for deliberately manufacturing and spreading computer viruses?

Deliberately making destructive programs (such as spreading computer viruses) will be punished as follows:

First, if the situation is not serious and does not constitute a crime, it will be punished by public security, and the perpetrator will be detained for less than 5 days; If the circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for more than 5 days 10 days.

2. Deliberately making destructive programs such as spreading computer viruses, affecting the normal operation of computer systems and causing serious consequences, will constitute a crime and will face fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; If the consequences are particularly serious, they will face more than five years in prison.

The crime and punishment of deliberately making and spreading destructive programs include: deliberately making and spreading destructive programs such as computer viruses, which affect the normal operation of computer systems.

Computer instructions or program codes that destroy computer functions or data stored in computer information systems, affect the use of computers and can replicate themselves.

Destructive programs are hidden in executable programs or data files and run inside the computer. Spreading computer virus refers to inputting the above virus into the computer in various ways, making the computer information system unable to operate normally, or changing, deleting, destroying or decomposing the data stored in the computer, and finally causing the computer information system to malfunction or collapse.

According to the fourth item of Article 29 of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment, anyone who intentionally produces and spreads destructive programs such as computer viruses and affects the normal operation of computer information systems shall be detained for less than 5 days; If the circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for more than 5 days 10 days.

Laws and regulations:

Article 286 of the Criminal Law, whoever, in violation of state regulations, deletes, modifies, adds or interferes with the functions of the computer information system, thus causing the computer information system to fail to operate normally, and the consequences are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; If the consequences are especially serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Whoever, in violation of state regulations, deletes, modifies or adds data and applications stored, processed or transmitted in the computer information system, with serious consequences, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Whoever intentionally produces and spreads destructive programs such as computer viruses, which affects the normal operation of computer systems and causes serious consequences, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph.