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Australian Cybercrime Enquiry Report Released
An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Government Standing Committee on Communications has released the results of a year long enquiry into cybercrime in a report titled Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime. This report includes a recommendation that Internet Service Provider customers should be forced to install anti-virus and firewall software on their computers as part of their contractual obligations. The Australian Communications and Media Authority receive further powers and responsibilities under the recommendations with respect to shutting down websites hosting malicious content and ensuring that infected consumer devices are disconnected from the Internet."
"proper security measures shall be taken to protect against malicious software and remote attacks."
Define 'proper' in this context. Windows has come with built in firewall software for years, since XP SP2 IIRC. Is that 'proper' enough? What about the most up-to-date patched Windows 7 system? Where do you draw the line?
UNIX firewalls might be the best in the world today, but tomorrow someone might discover a critical flaw that opens up every Linux box to all kinds of nasties. Similarly, saying "Install Norton/Mcaffee/whatever" is susceptible to a similar flaw. It might be the recommended A/V product, but tomorrow some hax0rs might find a vulnerability with it and every computer in Australia is vulnerable to it.