European Council: Creating hacking tools should be criminal across EU

The making of hacking tools and computer viruses should be a criminal act across Europe, EU ministers have said.

The EU's Council of Ministers has backed the extension of criminal sanctions to tool—makers in response to European Commission plans to update EU laws tackling attacks against computer systems.

Responding to European Commission plans to create a new anti-hacker Directive, the Council has said that the making of hacking tools should be criminalised, adding this to the list of currently criminal practices.

"The following new elements [should include] penalisation of the production and making available of tools (eg, malicious software designed to create 'botnets' or unrightfully obtained computer passwords) for committing the offences [of attacks against computer systems]," the Council of Ministers said in a statement (pages 18-19 of 38-page/176KB PDF).

"The term botnet indicates a network of computers that have been infected by malicious software (computer virus)," the Council statement said.

"Such network of compromised computers ('zombies' may be activated to perform specific actions such as attacks against information systems (cyberattacks). These 'zombies' can be controlled