A tiff between two IT contractors that spiralled into federal court ended last month with a US district court ruling in Georgia that port scans of a network do not damage it, in reference to a section of the anti-hacking laws . . .

A tiff between two IT contractors that spiralled into federal court ended last month with a US district court ruling in Georgia that port scans of a network do not damage it, in reference to 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.

"It says you can't create your own damages by investigating something that would not otherwise be a crime," says hacker defence attorney Jennifer Granick. "It's a good decision for computer security researchers."

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