The German parliament has strengthened the
country’s anti-hacking laws by banning the distribution and
ownership of hacking tools and making it illegal to bypass a
network’s security.
Although Germany, like the UK and the rest of Europe, already
has computer crime legislation in place, the new law seeks to close
a number of loopholes.
"
Hacker attacks on IT systems are constantly evolving to the
point where legislation drawn up several years ago cannot always
cope with the more ingenious attack methodologies," said Yuval
Ben-Itzhak, CTO at security software firm Finjan.
He said, “There is the increasing use of code obfuscation
(hiding) to avoid detection. This complex attack methodology is
usually achieved using so-called hacker utilities, the possession
of which was not previously illegal in Germany."
The new legislation makes it illegal to distribute or acquire these
utilities, as well as making it against the law to bypass a
system's IT security measures.
The UK authorities are considering similar measures to help
prevent the use of such hacking tools, but there are concerns that
such a law could make it harder for firms to carry out hacking
tests on their own networks.
Home Office to update Computer Misuse Act to tackle web
attacks >>
Phishing attacks on the rise >>
Hackers face longer jail sentences under plans to update the
Computer Misuse Act >>
More information
on the German law >>
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