Can you mention a sinle program, that can only be used for attack, and not to secure the network?

An example: I have a copy of the loveletter virus on my machine, which I have used several times to test antivirus software. I have even sent it to friends, to test their e-mail antivirus software - only by explicit request of course, and only to people I trust not to activate the virus by accident.

Does this mean that the loveletter author goes free? After all, the "tool" he wrote has legitimate uses.

I would say that writing it should never be a crime, but using it should. The loveletter guy sent his virus out to lots of computer users, so he is a criminal. But here we have the torn guy charged, not with using a rootkit, but with writing it. That's the problem. Sure he should go away for a while, but lock him up for rooting the machines, nor for writing the tool to do it.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/articles/813/16712#16712