Nmap is popular with both computer users as well as film directors. Trinity, the leading female figure in the ‘Matrix’ trilogy, used the network tool in the second part of the science fiction saga in order to scan the ports of a power plant’s computer system. However, she wasn’t interested in optimizing the system’s security; instead, she used the result of the scan to gain access to the system. In order to achieve this, Trinity used malicious code that relies on the security gaps of the SSH protocol running via port 22. While this scene displays a very simplified attack, this is supposed to represent the potential dangers that port scanning can unleash.
Checking ports isn’t always legal. As soon as an exploit attempt is made, which is how experts refer to the action of abusing security gaps, then the person or group responsible for this could face potential legal consequences. It’s less clear, however, what the legal situation is when a computer system is paralyzed due to intensive port scans. Given that these monitoring methods present challenges to for the target system due to high frequencies of connection queries, it can sometimes be the case that this system then crashes. What’s more, those responsible for the target system could become aware of the attackers activities prior to the crash evaluate these actions as the first steps of an attack. Legal consequences shouldn’t be ruled out in such cases. If a foreign system is intentionally brought to collapse, then this is known as a DDoS attack, which in all likelihood may result in the attack victim seeking legal action.
You can always be sure that you’re allowed to run a port scan on the respective system and use this technology, provided that it’s for security purposes and not simply to satisfy your curiosity. These displayed ways of implementing port scans highlights how important it is to keep an eye on your own system’s ports, network computers as well as the services that are accessing these.