Germans face 12 months in prison for owning nmap or nessus security tools

Germany has introduced draconian anti-hacker measures that criminalise the creation or possession of dual-use security tools.

The distinctions between, for example, a password cracker and a password recovery tool, or a utility designed to run DOS attacks and one designed to stress-test a network, are not covered by the new law, critics argue. Possession of dual-use tools - port scanners such as nmap or security scanners like nessus - is punishable by imprisonment of up to 12 months and a fine.