[ISN] Comcast pop-ups alert customers to PC infections

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10370996-245.html

[Here's a better idea, forget the pop-up that your computer is infected, 
everyone ignores that. Just cut off the account from the Internet, when 
Joe Sixpack can't download more Carla Bruni nudie pics, they'll just 
call Comcast customer support, listen to Ben Stein and Shaq flap their 
gums for a few minutes, and someone in your CS department will tell them 
if they want to see more Carla Bru... err, educational Internet sites, 
they will have X amount of time to download the security suite you're 
offering for free or they will be cut off again.  - WK]


By Elinor Mills
InSecurity Complex
CNet News
October 8, 2009

Comcast is launching a trial on Thursday of a new automated service that 
will warn broadband customers of possible virus infections, if the 
computers are behaving as if they have been compromised by malware.

For instance, a significant overnight spike in traffic being sent from a 
particular Internet Protocol address could signal that a computer is 
infected with a virus taking control of the system and using it to send 
spam as part of a botnet.

The alerts are triggered "when we see computers on our network that are 
doing things that are known bot activities--say, a computer is spewing 
out thousands of spam e-mails," said Jay Opperman, senior director of 
security and privacy at Comcast.

The Philadelphia-based cable giant, which is the largest residential 
Internet service provider in the United States, with 15.3 million 
consumer customers, also is alerted to compromised customer computers 
when an IP address of one of its customers is identified as the source 
of spam on an industry spam list, Opperman said.

[...]


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