Cybercrimes Act, 2015, unauthorised access and interference offences
Cybercrimes Act 2015 (Act No. 14 of 2015), ss. 4-9 (illegal access, illegal remaining, illegal interception, illegal data interference, illegal system interference, data espionage)
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 since 1 September 2015.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not intentionally and unlawfully access, remain in, or interfere with a computer system, or intercept a non-public transmission, without the operator's authorisation.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Illegal access (s. 4) carries a fine of not less than TZS 3,000,000 or three times the undue advantage received, whichever is greater, or imprisonment for a term of not less than one year, or both. Illegal data interference (s. 7) carries a fine of not less than TZS 10,000,000 or three times the undue advantage received, or imprisonment for a term of not less than three years, or both. Data espionage (s. 8) carries a fine of not less than TZS 20,000,000 or three times the undue advantage received, or imprisonment for a term of not less than five years, or both. Sections 4-9 set minimum fines and minimum imprisonment terms rather than a ceiling, so no penalty_structure cap is recorded for this instrument.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 4 prohibits intentionally and unlawfully accessing or causing a computer system to be accessed, carrying a fine of not less than TZS 3,000,000 or three times the undue advantage received, or imprisonment of not less than one year, or both. Section 5 separately prohibits remaining in a computer system beyond authorised time. Section 6 prohibits illegal interception of non-public transmissions or electromagnetic emissions.
Section 7 prohibits illegal data interference, including damaging, deleting or altering computer data, carrying a fine of not less than TZS 10,000,000 or imprisonment of not less than three years, or both. Section 8 prohibits data espionage, obtaining computer data protected against unauthorised access, carrying imprisonment of not less than five years. Section 9 prohibits illegal system interference, hindering the functioning or usage of a computer system.
Unlike a statute that conditions the illegal-access offence on defeating a security measure, section 4's text requires only that the access be intentional and unlawful, without an express security-circumvention element, and no reported Tanzanian decision has addressed whether reading a public, unauthenticated page without authorisation from the site operator falls within the offence.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models
Read the law
Cybercrimes Act text as republished by TanzLII