Microsoft Eyes PC Isolation Ward To Thwart Botnets

CWmike writes "In a paper published Wednesday (PDF), Scott Charney, who heads Microsoft's trustworthy computing group, spelled out a concept of 'collective defense' that he said was modeled after public health measures like vaccinations and quarantines. The aim: To block botnet-infected computers from connecting to the Internet. Under the proposal, PCs would be issued a 'health certificate' that showed whether the system was fully patched, that it was running security software and a firewall, and that it was malware-free. Machines with deficiencies would require patching or an antivirus update, while bot-infected PCs might be barred from the Internet."

Great idea!

[Legion303]

This is a not-at-all-terrible idea that will ensure people are up to date with such security patches as WGA. Bravo, Microsoft, bravo.

Re:"Running Security software"

[AnonymousClown]

RUN NORTON OR NO INTERNET

If those are my only two choices, I'll take NO INTERNET please.

Re:WTF

[The Archon V2.0]

M$ should be bared from the Internet.

Why do you make me think of naked Ballmer? What did I ever do to you?

Stating the Obvious

[SilverHatHacker]

This would be really ugly for Linux, BSD, and possible OS X boxen, but I would expect Apple to play along while proclaiming that their certificates are better because they come stamped with a big shiny sticker.

Re:Pay for it?

[X0563511]

Perhaps it's MS that should be cordoned off from the net at large...

Oohh, doesn't sound like such a good idea now, does it MS?

Geez!

[The Wild Norseman]

Every single time I see the stupid little popup telling me my Windows machine is possibly infected, I click on it.

WHAT ELSE DOES MICROSOFT WANT FROM ME?!?!

Re:ahem

[Neil Boekend]

That seems like a great plan:

1. 1. No non-M$ systems on the internet.
2. 2. All the main routers booted of (No windows there).
3. 3. No internet left
4. 4. Let's start an internet with only non windows-systems
5. 5. Hey, WTF: the infrastructure is already there!
6. 6. A lot les spam and malware for a couple of months (at the most)
7. 7. ...
8. 8. Profit!