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UK Government Launches Virus Alert Service

Posted by Zonk on from the had-this-been-an-actual-virus-pr0n-would-have-appeared dept.

Phil1 writes "The BBC is reporting that a rapid alerting service that tells home computer users about serious internet security problems is being launched by the UK government. Has this been attempted anywhere else in the world? Was it successful? And will they be plugging the Microsoft Anti-Spyware package (once it leaves beta)?"

9 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Next story about this will be... by GoMMiX · · Score: 3, Funny

    UK security alert service hacked, all your personal info are belong to us!

    *signs up*

    1. Re:Next story about this will be... by ggvaidya · · Score: 5, Funny

      You must be new here.

      Obviously, the next story will be this story posted again by another editor. :)

  2. Better suggestion! by bigtallmofo · · Score: 4, Funny

    They could come up with a color-coded "Virus Threat Advisory System". Just off the top of my head, they could use something like:

    Low = Green
    Guarded = Blue
    Elevated = Yellow
    High = Orange
    Severe = Red

    Who the hell knows what users should do at each of these levels, but at least they'd be using techniques that have been used in other successful alert systems.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  3. The day of the week will tell you by Spackler · · Score: 3, Funny

    If the day of the week has a Y in it, Microsoft had a security problem today.

    I just saved the government (pinky to corner of mouth) 1 Billllion dollars!

  4. Re:doesn't make sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why the government would want to waste taxpayer dollars on this is beyond me. Of course, I have no reason to talk because I don't live in the UK.

    That's OK, we didn't expect you to know that we use the Pound over here...

  5. We already have that in the U.S. by Scratch-O-Matic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why, just last night I got a bunch of helpful popup windows alerting me that "we have detected that your computer may be infected with spyware or a virus." There was also a button that I could click to download software that would fix it. Sounds like we're way ahead of the game, so chew on that for a while, U.K.!

    --


    Evil is the money of root.
  6. Don't encourage users to trust email by evilandi · · Score: 2, Funny

    The UK scheme appears to be based around emailing users about security problems.

    Because obviously, if you receive an email giving you security advice, its guaranteed to be up-to-date, accurate, authoratative and with excellent step-by-step instructions on how to +++ATH0 NO CARRIER

    --
    Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
  7. Re:how does the average user validate the source? by csrster · · Score: 2, Funny

    and if you can't think of a good ITsafe word, just use your administrator password or PIN number

  8. But by Nine+Tenths+of+The+W · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does it respond within 45 minutes?

    --
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