German government agencies partner with ISPs to take on malware
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Internet service providers and several German governmental agencies will team up to battle malicious programs and their providers. The centerpiece of the plan is the creation of a hotline to help internet users cleanse malware from their systems.
The Register's John Leyden writes that the primary goal of the German plan is the disruption of the many botnets that affect internet users in that country. Users whose ISPs detect suspicious activity on their connection will be directed toward a help website and call center, which will be staffed by roughly 40 workers.
Germany's rate of botnet infection is the third-highest in the world, and the project hopes to change that. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and Association of the German Internet Industry (eco) are the primary partners in this effort, and those organizations say that the project will go forward in early 2010.
Botnets are used by cyber criminals for various illegal acts, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attempts to knock servers offline, and large-scale spam campaigns and internet phishing.
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