Código Penal Federal, Unauthorised Access to Computer Systems and Equipment (Arts. 211 bis 1 to 211 bis 7)
Código Penal Federal, Arts. 211 bis 1 al 211 bis 7
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.
In force.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not modify, destroy, cause the loss of, learn of, or copy information in a computer system or equipment that is protected by a security mechanism, without authorisation to access it.
- Reading a publicly available, unauthenticated page that defeats no security mechanism has not itself been held to violate this chapter; defeating a login or another access control to reach the same data plausibly does.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Article 211 bis 1: 6 months to 2 years' imprisonment for unauthorised modification, destruction, or loss of protected information; 3 months to 1 year for unauthorised access to or copying of it. Articles 211 bis 2 to 211 bis 5 impose heavier ranges, up to 10 years, for State and financial-sector systems, with an additional penalty of removal from office and 4 to 10 years' disqualification for a public servant who commits the public-security variant. Article 211 bis 7 increases every penalty in the chapter by up to one half where the information is used for personal or third-party benefit.
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 211 bis 1 punishes with 6 months to 2 years' imprisonment and a fine anyone who, without authorisation, modifies, destroys, or causes the loss of information contained in a computer system or equipment protected by a security mechanism, and with 3 months to 1 year's imprisonment anyone who, without authorisation, learns of or copies such protected information.
Articles 211 bis 2 and 211 bis 3 impose heavier penalties, up to 10 years for public-security systems, for the same conduct against a State computer system, distinguishing an outsider acting without authorisation from an insider authorised to access the system who acts improperly within it. Articles 211 bis 4 and 211 bis 5 apply a parallel regime to financial-sector computer systems.
Article 211 bis 7 increases every penalty in the chapter by up to one half where the information obtained is used for the offender's own benefit or a third party's. Each offence turns on defeating a security mechanism protecting the system ("protegidos por algún mecanismo de seguridad") without authorisation; the text does not on its face reach reading a page that carries no such mechanism.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models
Read the law
Código Penal Federal, official consolidated text on the Cámara de Diputados' LeyesBiblio