Fergie's Tech Blog

MAAWG: ISPs Report Success in Fighting Malware-Infected PCs

Jeremy Kirk writes on PC World:

Computers infected with malicious software remain a big headache for ISPs, but two companies have designed systems that have made the problem much more manageable.

When a PC gets infected with malicious software, it's often used for sending spam. It makes the ISP look bad as well as sucking up bandwidth, making networks more congested.

True Internet, one of Thailand's largest ISPs, had been hit by an ever-increasing number of malware-infected computers on its network. The spam and malware traffic was so severe that its customers -- most of whom are still on dial-up connections -- were complaining of slow speeds, said Tanapon Chadavasu, head of True Internet's network operations.

The problem was also costing the company money, since bandwidth is expensive in the area, and more hardware was needed to keep the network running, Chadavasu said during a presentation Wednesday at the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group Meeting in Amsterdam.

posted by Fergie @ 6/10/2009 01:25:00 PM