[LINK] ISPs in Oz to alert customers???

[Jan Whitaker]

Is that ***!!! bit real?


US eyes Australian government web plan

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/us-eyes-australian-government-web-plan-20101016-16oca.html


Lolita Baldor

October 16, 2010 - 8:39PM

AP

The US government is reviewing an Australian 
program that will allow internet service 
providers to alert customers if their computers 
are taken over by hackers and could limit online 
access if people don't fix the problem.

Obama administration officials have been meeting 
with industry leaders and experts to find ways to 
increase online safety, as they try to strike a 
balance between securing the internet and 
guarding Americans' privacy and civil liberties.

********Cyber experts and US officials are 
interested in portions of the plan, !!!!!slated 
to go into effect in Australia in December.!!!!!! 
But any move toward internet regulation or 
monitoring by the US government or industry could 
trigger fierce opposition from the public.*******

The discussions come as private, corporate and 
government computers across the US are 
increasingly being taken over and exploited by 
hackers and other computer criminals.

White House cyber coordinator Howard Schmidt told 
The Associated Press that the US is looking at a 
number of voluntary ways to help the public and 
small businesses better protect themselves online.

Possibilities include provisions in the Australia 
plan that enable customers to get warnings from 
their internet providers if their computer gets 
taken over by hackers through a botnet.

A botnet is a network of infected computers that 
can number in the thousands and that network is 
usually controlled by hackers through a small 
number of scattered PCs. Computer owners are 
often unaware that their machine is linked to a 
botnet and is being used to shut down targeted 
websites, distribute malicious code or spread spam.

If a company is willing to give its customers 
better online security, the American public will 
go along with that, Schmidt said.

"Without security you have no privacy. And many 
of us that care deeply about our privacy look to 
make sure our systems are secure," Schmidt said 
in an interview. Internet service providers, he 
added, can help "make sure our systems are 
cleaned up if they're infected and keep them clean."

But officials are stopping short of advocating an 
option in the Australian plan that allows 
internet providers to wall off or limit online 
usage by customers who fail to clean their 
infected computers, saying this would be 
technically difficult and likely run into opposition.

"In my view, the United States is probably going 
to be well behind other nations in stepping into 
a lot of these new areas," said Prescott Winter, 
former chief technology officer for the National 
Security Agency, who is now at the 
California-based cybersecurity firm, ArcSight.

In the US, he said, the internet is viewed as a 
technological wild west that should remain 
unfenced and unfettered. But he said this open 
range isn't secure, so "we need to take steps to 
make it safe, reliable and resilient."

"I think that, quite frankly, there will be other 
governments who will finally say, at least for 
their parts of the internet, as the Australians 
have apparently done, we think we can do better."

Cybersecurity expert James Lewis, a senior fellow 
at the Center for Strategic and International 
Studies, said that internet providers are nervous 
about any increase in regulations, and they worry 
about consumer reaction to monitoring or other security controls.

Online customers, he said, may not want their 
service provider to cut off their internet access 
if their computer is infected. And they may baulk 
at being forced to keep their computers free of botnets or infections.

But they may be amenable to having their internet 
provider warn them of cyber attacks and help them 
clear the malicious software off their computers 
by providing instructions, patches or anti-virus programs.

They may even be willing to pay a small price 
each month for the service - much like telephone 
customers used to pay a minimal monthly charge to cover repairs.

Lewis, who has been studying the issue for CSIS, 
said it is inevitable that one day carriers will 
play a role in defending online customers from computer attack.

Comcast Corp is already expanding a Denver pilot 
program that alerts customers whose computers are 
controlled through a botnet. The carrier provides 
free antivirus software and other assistance to 
clean the malware off the machine, said Cathy 
Avgirls, senior vice president at Comcast.

The program does not require customers to fix 
their computers or limit the online usage of 
people who refuse to do the repairs.

Avgrils said that the program will roll out 
across the country over the next three months. 
"We don't want to panic customers. We want to 
make sure they are comfortable. Beyond that, I 
hope that we pave the way for others to take these steps."

Voluntary programs will not be enough, said Dale 
Meyerrose, vice president and general manager of 
Cyber Integrated Solutions at Harris Corporation.

"There are people starting to make the point that 
we've gone about as far as we can with voluntary 
kinds of things, we need to have things that have 
more teeth in them, like standards," said Meyerrose.

For example, he said, coffee shops or airports 
might limit their wireless services to laptops 
equipped with certain protective technology. 
Internet providers might qualify for specific tax 
benefits if they put cyber protection programs in place, he said.

Unfortunately, he said, it may take a serious 
cyber attack before the government or industry 
impose such standards and programs.

In Australia, internet providers will be able to 
take a range of actions to limit the damage from 
infected computers, from issuing warnings to 
restricting outbound email. They could also 
temporarily quarantine compromised machines while 
providing customers with links to help fix the problem.

Online:

Homeland Security Department/Cybersecurity: 
http://www.dhs.gov/files/cybersecurity.shtm

White House Cybersecurity: 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/nsc/cybersecurity

© 2010 
<http://news.theage.com.au/action/displayCopyrightNotice?sourceOrganisation=AP>AP



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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