This article in Le Monde caught my eye today: Australie : pas d’antivirus, pas de connexion à Internet.

It concerns a report, published on June 21st by the Australian Standing Committee on Communications, in which the following recommendation is proposed:

“… la coupure de l’accès à Internet si l’usager dispose d’un ordinateur infecté par un programme malveillant, ou si la base de données de son antivirus ou son pare-feu n’est pas à jour”

For the benefit of any non-Francophones reading, this translates as “the disconnection of internet access if the user has a computer infected with malware, or if his antivirus software is either switched-off or out of date”

The suggestion appears to be that the ISP will be tasked with the responsibility of, effectively,  running anti-malware health checks on the client’s computer and imposing a kind of “Three Strikes And You’re Offline” rule.

It sounds like a good idea - I am all for systems to protect the innocent cyber-surfer - but it must surely involve the installation on the client’s computer of  “un logiciel espion” , spyware, which may not be acceptable to everyone.

This is, however, not unlike the system that I have imposed on my two offspring.  On arrival at my house their laptops and USB sticks are whipped away before you can say “Hi Mum can you lend me £10?”, checked to ensure that all security updates are applied and then scanned for infections.  Only once I am happy that they are not harbouring harmful malware are they allowed online access.

It may seem a little over-cautious but “mieux vaut prévenir que guérir“.

This virus information post courtesy of rss from: SophosLabs blog

Tags | Sophos