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Port scans legal, judge says
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2000-12-18

Federal court finds that scanning a network doesn't cause damage, or threaten public health and safety.

Comments Mode:
Lame 2000-12-19
Anonymous (1 replies)
Lame (a reply by VC3) 2000-12-20
david.dunn (at) vc3 (dot) com [email concealed] (2 replies)
Extra Lame 2000-12-20
anonymous (1 replies)
Extra Lame (Another reply from VC3) 2000-12-21
david.dunn (at) vc3 (dot) com [email concealed]
Lame (a reply by VC3) 2000-12-21
Dazed and Confused (1 replies)
Lame (a reply by VC3) 2000-12-21
david.dunn (at) vc3 (dot) com [email concealed]
Get a grip 2000-12-19
Chip
Good for him. 2000-12-19
Your headline is misleading 2000-12-19
EJ (4 replies)
re: Your headline is misleading 2000-12-19
ThwartedEfforts (2 replies)
re: Your headline is misleading 2000-12-19
Sleeper (1 replies)
re: Your headline is misleading 2000-12-20
Anonymouse (1 replies)
Your headline is misleading 2000-12-19
merk_man (1 replies)
Your headline is misleading 2000-12-19
Ray L (4 replies)
Good guy getting blamed... 2000-12-19
anon-coward
Your headline is misleading 2000-12-20
Giezr
Your headline is misleading 2007-03-09
Sady.Org
Re: Your headline is misleading 2007-03-09
Sady.Org
judges decision 2000-12-19
jeff_schmitz (at) enron (dot) net [email concealed]
So if some one knocks on my door... 2000-12-19
garak (at) fastvcd (dot) com [email concealed] (1 replies)
Just don't do it. 2000-12-19
Anonymous Coward (1 replies)
Just don't do it. 2000-12-19
iNDiGO
Port Scan 2000-12-19
Bear
Interesting 2000-12-20
mickey
American Justice System 2000-12-20
b00tl3g
VC3 is Full of Crap! 2000-12-20
JamesF, web developer
Things not mentioned in the article 2000-12-20
A Fly on the Wall
1. The suit made claim that Moulton's Port Scan was a 'Denial of Service Attack' that cause a system outage. The President of the company that wrote the software that Mr. Moulton used to port scan the VC3 network wrote a letter stating that nothing malice could be done with the Port Scanning software and that there is no way the it could be a 'Denial of Service Attack'.

2. The company VC3 had no evidence of the port scan except a copy of system log that they had admittedly edited. When asked under deposition for the original copy of the system log they admitted that they did not have an original copy of the log that was the only piece of evidence that a port scan occured.

3. Mr. Moulton port scanned their network from a system on his own Class C Network registered in his name. If you were going to hack into someone's network you wouldn't use your own IP Address.

4. Mr. Moulton was contacted by email from the VC3 administrator and asked why he was Port Scanning their network. He explained that he was working for Cherokee county 911 looking into possible security holes and ceased his port scanned. The VC3 administrator offered to sit down with Moulton and go over any concerns. This was the end of it, until VC3 decided to press charges.

5. Cherokee County Sheriff's offices and 911 center are all internetworked together. Cherokee County does not have a Network administrator to oversee this network. Mr. Moulton was responsible for the 911 center. One of the offices contracted with VC3 to provide internet access. Now, anyone who could hack into VC3 could access all of Cherokee County including the 911 center. VC3 also provided access to Rockdale county Sheriff's dept on the same network. So, potentially some one from Rockdale County could access Cherokee County systems. Mr. Moulton's port scan was strictly looking out for the security of the 911 Center for Cherokee County.

This case was a waste of time and a large cost for Mr. Moulton all for a simple Port Scan.

[ reply ]

Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/articles/126/4090#4090
Ringing a Doorbell or Checking for an Open Window? 2000-12-20
apersonwhosees thisalot
VC3 2000-12-20
Matthew F. Caldwell, CISSP <mattc (at) guarded (dot) net [email concealed]>
Wrong 2000-12-20
William Black (1 replies)
Wrong 2000-12-20
aardwolfe (at) yahoo (dot) com [email concealed]
Scanning illegal? 2000-12-20
vcloud
Doing his job. 2000-12-20
Bob C
Mistakes 2000-12-21
djmad (1 replies)
Mistakes .... 2000-12-22
cert (at) fvsh (dot) de [email concealed]
Intent is really the issue 2000-12-21
Scott Craig <scraig@MIfortune500(fake).com>
Clarifications 2000-12-21
JAG (Just Another Geek)







 

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