Penal Code of the State of Eritrea, Unauthorized Use of a Computer
Penal Code of the State of Eritrea (2015), arts. 374-375 (Unauthorized Use of a Computer)
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
Commencement not set.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not obtain an unauthorized computer service, intercept a function of a computer system, or alter, destroy, or interfere with data in a computer system, without authorization.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control has not itself been held to violate this Article.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Unauthorized use of a computer is a Class 2 petty offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of 1 to 6 months, or a fine of 5,001 to 20,000 Nakfas, set in intervals of 1,000 Nakfas (art. 374). Aggravated unauthorized use of a computer, committed in relation to a public or financial institution, is a Class 8 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of 3 to 5 years, with no fine stated (art. 375).
Penalty structure
Fine range for the Class 2 petty offence under art. 374; the same subsection also allows imprisonment of 1 to 6 months instead of the fine. The aggravated offence under art. 375 (against a public or financial institution) carries imprisonment of 3 to 5 years with no fine option, see criminal_exposure_note.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 7 September 2026
- Minimum
- 5,001
- Currency
- ERN
- Fixed cap
- 20,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Access restriction
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 374(1) makes it an offence for a person to intentionally obtain, directly or indirectly, any unauthorized computer service; intercept, by an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical, or other device, any function of a computer system; alter or destroy data in a computer, render data meaningless, useless, or ineffective, or obstruct, interrupt, or interfere with the lawful use of data; or permit another person access to a computer password enabling such an offence, or otherwise deny or interfere with an entitled person's access to data.
Unauthorized use of a computer is a Class 2 petty offence, punishable with imprisonment of 1 to 6 months or a fine of 5,001 to 20,000 Nakfas, set in intervals of 1,000 Nakfas. Article 375 makes the same conduct against a public or financial institution a Class 8 serious offence, aggravated unauthorized use, punishable with imprisonment of 3 to 5 years, with no fine stated.
Because the offence's own heading and article 374(1)(a) tie the conduct to an unauthorized computer service, a scraper reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control falls outside a plain reading of the provision; the Council of Europe's Octopus Cybercrime Community country profile for Eritrea describes this Penal Code as the jurisdiction's substantive law on illegal access, illegal interception, and data interference, and does not identify any separate cybercrime statute.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models
Read the law
Penal Code of the State of Eritrea (2015)
official text hosted by FAOLEX (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations legal database)