[32935] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Port scanning legal
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff Wheat)
Tue Dec 19 11:10:30 2000
From: "Jeff Wheat" <jeff@cetlink.net>
To: <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 11:05:40 -0500
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Isn't that just sweet... So in a nutshell it is *not* illegal
for kiddies to port scan a network looking for vulnerabilities.
It would seem to me that such scans would impair the integrity
of ones networks, or am I just smoking crack?
Jeff
CETLink.Net
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu]On Behalf Of
> Edward S. Marshall
> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 10:43 AM
> To: nanog@merit.edu
> Subject: Port scanning legal
>
>
>
> http://www.securityfocus.com/templates/article.html?id=126
>
> A quick quote from the article:
>
> 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.
>
> This may have ramifications for both security professionals and abuse desk
> personnel; this ruling would seem to make it clear that you cannot claim
> time spent investigating abuse issues as damage. The complete finding is
> here:
>
> http://pub.bna.com/eclr/00434.htm
>
> Any armchair lawyers on the list want to take a crack at this?
>
> --
> Edward S. Marshall <emarshal@logic.net>
> http://www.nyx.net/~emarshal/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------
> [ Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
> ]
>
>
