ACMA teams with ISPs to track zombie computers

Stuart Corner
Monday, 07 November 2005 16:30

IT Industry - Deals

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has put in place a programme to find 'zombie' computers on the Australian internet.

The Australian Internet Security Initiative, officially launched by the minister for communications, information technology and the arts, senator Helen Coonan, is presently under trial with five Internet service providers (ISPs) - Telstra Bigpond, OptusNet, Westnet, Pacific Internet and West Australian Networks.

Zombies are computers that have been infected by a computer virus or a similar intrusion that enables them to be used to commit online crimes under remote control without the computer owner's knowledge. These crimes can include sending spam or hosting offensive material. Owners of the computers may also find themselves paying for bandwidth they did not know they were using.

"There are millions of 'zombies' around the world and they have become a major problem on the internet," said Lyn Maddock, acting ACMA chair. 'Global software companies estimate that more than 60 percent of all global spam is now relayed via zombies."

Under the trial program, the ACMA will supply the participating ISPs l with a list of the infected Internet addresses on their networks. Each ISP will then contact customers with infected computers to advise them on what they may need to do to fix the problem.

If the owner either cannot or will not fix the problem and their computer remains a threat to other Internet users, the ISPs may take steps under their acceptable use policy to disconnect the computer until the problem is resolved.

The Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT), the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and other online experts are also assisting in the trial.

The ACMA has given no indication as to whether or when the trial might be extended to the entire Australian ISP community.