SCI/TECH: BigPond Disconnecting Trojan-Infected Customers

Australia's largest ISP is disconnecting customers who are believed to have compromised their network with their infected computers. Telstra BigPond said that on-going investigations had identified customers whose infected machines had launched bogus DNS request to the extent that service to customers negatively affected. The ISP has increased its DNS capacity to compensate for the problem.



Far too many people think way too little about the security of their computers and the effect that infected machines have on all of us. Infected machines can serve as zombies to send spam and spread their infections to all who receive email from them. As cited in an article below, some students are complaining that their computer courses place far too little importance on teaching them how to protect their computers and networks.

I often discuss these matters with a man at my favorite restaurant. He is often complaining about his computer's performance, but because he got mad a Symantec, he refuses to renew his subscription. I gave him a list of free programs that will help to secure his machine, but alas, it was too late. The last time I talked to him his modem had been hijacked to the tune of nearly seventy-five dollars.

Related News Links:
www.usatoday.com
news.softpedia.com

Good- maybe this will cut down on 'pings' from Australia.

I average a few a day. I'm glad complaining finally worked.

All ISP's do this as far as I know.
At least in the netherlands they do.
Not sure why this is news.

If you want to test your connection, this is fast and free.

Open the link and click

Sanc'.

[edit on 21-4-2005 by sanctum]

Going to translate for the technologically challenged...

Australia's largest ISP is disconnecting customers who are believed to have compromised their network with their infected computers.

The internet services are giving people the boot, when they haven't been cleaning their computers with things like Anti-Virus, Spyware removal, and Adware removal software.

Telstra BigPond said that on-going investigations had identified customers whose infected machines had launched bogus DNS request to the extent that service to customers negatively affected.

The service provider Telstra BigPond said that when they looked into it, they found that customers who haven't been doing this house-cleaning, are making it slow for everyone else.

The ISP has increased its DNS capacity to compensate for the problem.

To give their customers better speed, and thus to keep them, Telstra BigPond bought some better hardware and software to keep it from being an issue.

As mentioned, all ISPs do this, so not so sure what the big deal is, but still newsworthy for those who aren't familiar with this practice.

I don't understand the 'newsworthy' statements.

IF something occurs that affects people it is news to me. May not be new, may not be relevant (to me). This is like saying no stories (posts) relating to tsunamis, Iraq ambushes, political misstepts, etc. are news because they occur often.

Am I missing the point here?

Originally posted by JoeDoaks
I don't understand the 'newsworthy' statements.

IF something occurs that affects people it is news to me. May not be new, may not be relevant (to me). This is like saying no stories (posts) relating to tsunamis, Iraq ambushes, political misstepts, etc. are news because they occur often.

Am I missing the point here?

Joe, the ATSNN story is in the SCI/TECH category. That's fair enough in my opinion.

Sanc'.

This happened to my dads comp last year. I do find it unsettling that they can actually detect that your comp has a virus.. Seems like an invasion of privacy to me, but maybe it's in the fine print of the agreement people sign when they signup for the service.

Originally posted by JoeDoaks
I don't understand the 'newsworthy' statements.

IF something occurs that affects people it is news to me. May not be new, may not be relevant (to me). This is like saying no stories (posts) relating to tsunamis, Iraq ambushes, political misstepts, etc. are news because they occur often.

Am I missing the point here?

I could make a new thread every day about what ISP decided to do what -affecting all customers- to prevent spam, trojans being spread, or whatever other bad thing.
I don't understand how this is newsworthy, not even mentioning that other ISP's have been doing similar things for years allready.

Originally posted by sardion2000
This happened to my dads comp last year. I do find it unsettling that they can actually detect that your comp has a virus.. Seems like an invasion of privacy to me, but maybe it's in the fine print of the agreement people sign when they signup for the service.

They don't detect that the computer has a virus, they detect that *something* is sending out an insane amount of emails for an insane amount of time, way out of any proportions and way more than even big companies send and receive.
It's not hard to detect, it's not sophisticated technology and it is certainly not an invasion of anyones privacy.

[edit on 21-4-2005 by Jakko]

Just for the fun of it I clicked on the securty check .
And Of corse i got blue checks for everthing. (This means Im safe )
whats funny about this is im a securty nut BIG time i payed LOTS of money for my pc (more then I payed for my cars) And it irratates me to no end having stuff auto download (aka spyware and such
My securty would make nortian eneves but even still stuff gets through once in a wile .
Ps of corse wifeee downloading all thous Trial ware games doesent help lol. Have about 6 programs desined to get ride of that stuff .
Ps you need to rember Adaware and search and destroy DONT do a thing for your reg. www.fixyourwindows.com...
Go there and see how to chang all your settings to mimise spyware.
And get more speed to boot. Pc use with causion as deliting the wrong reg will cause you to have to reinstall any vires protection.