Message-ID: <3A4A38C9.8852B438@cupserv.org> Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 13:45:29 -0500 From: "Fred A. Miller" <fm@cupserv.org> Subject: Port Scans Legal, Judge Says! Port Scans Legal, Judge Says! By Kevin Poulsen A tiff between two IT contractors that spiraled into federal court ended last month with a U.S. district court ruling in Georgia that port scanning a network does not damage it, under a section of the anti-hacking laws that allows victims of cyber attack to sue an attacker. Last week both sides agreed not to appeal the decision by judge Thomas Thrash, who found that the value of time spent investigating a port scan can not be considered damage. "The statute clearly states that the damage must be an impairment to the integrity and availability of the network," wrote the judge, who found that a port scan impaired neither. http://www.securityfocus.com/templates/article.html?id=126 -- ----/ / _ Fred A. Miller ---/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Systems Administrator --/ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / Cornell Univ. Press Services -/____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ fm@cupserv.org