Broadband ISP's - Should they do more?

[hogman]

As many of you will know, broadband ISP's in the UK are ramming it down our necks 24/7. With Ads on the Radio, TV, and the printed press telling the public how they can not afford to be without broadband. Then they impose usage restrictions because of increased network activity, possibly due to increased P2P activity but also due to the amount of zombie PC's filling our mailboxes with SPAM.

Why then, are they not teaming up with the worlds leading technology provider, Microsoft; after all they ARE on 97% of desktops!! They could team up and ensure that not only are the users sent a driver disk with their "free" modem, but how about a security update CD? One that works on ALL M$ OS's and ensures that any critical patches are fixed BEFORE they connect them to the net using a nice big fat pipe?

They could also team up with Anti-Virus providers to provide a free AV product for home users, for example AVG, and others. There are also FREE firewall products for home users that could be provided. They would be far far better off providing the very basic tools for internet security and stamping out the zombie pc's than by imposing usage restrictions on customers.

Last night I took receipt of a PC, "It has an error on it!" I was told. Yep, over 770 seperate virus infections, 190 spyware infections, 24 rogue diallers. He bought his PC in July. He has been on broadband since August. He only had XP SP1 installed and the ISP supplied browser.

I think it is time that the ISP's took action and delivered BASIC security measures for the users.

We all know that users are the biggest security risk, but lets educate them before they get fat pipes!!

[NooNoo]

You know, I look at this argument much like a set of traffic lights

People jump the lights all the time and come to no harm. There are others that wouldn't dream of jumping a light and get hooted when they pause of a millisecond to put the car in gear when the light goes green.

Similarly, looking after the water levels and tyre pressures in a car are much like windows updates. If you do it regularly it's not a chore - don't do it regularly and you are faced with overheats or blowouts.

Can you imagine a man visiting your car every day and telling you that you have to check the tyre pressure before leaving the house and if you don't, he will take away your car keys?

That is what you seem to be asking for....

[confus-ed]

..I think it is time that the ISP's took action and delivered BASIC security measures for the users...

Or users could always get educated & realise that 'conceptually' allowing your computer to connect to all the others in the world is kind of asking for trouble !?!

Sadly the getout for most ISP's is that, they don't let this happen & 'stinky' windows is what causes all of this - there's always AOL though if you prefer :eek2: AOL goes a bundle on consumer security (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/18/aol_security_edition/)

I agree though :thumbs: , ISPs should definately be responsible for much more, but it'd help if we weren't all using NOS's (network operating systems) by billy boy gates with more security holes than swiss cheese !

[hogman]

Can you imagine a man visiting your car every day and telling you that you have to check the tyre pressure before leaving the house and if you don't, he will take away your car keys?

That is what you seem to be asking for....

I don't think I am, I am asking for the ISP's to be a little more responsible.

If the updates can be provided free of charge by Microsoft, and delivered on CD direct to the user, then what is the excuse for not using them?

We all know how big SP2 is, then there are the other updates. Now if a user was previously on dial-up then there is no way you would expect them to do all the updates. So provide them on CD, get them installed, then let them play with fat pipes.

Rather than sending a simple "welcome to xxxx, here is your password" why not "Before you start........." and detail the security risks of not having Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software together with why they need a firewall. These BASIC BASIC actions can help prevent so much trouble and I can't see this becoming a financial hurdle with ISP's. I bet they spend more on the traffic generated by the Zombified PC's that fill our e-mail with junk.

I do understand what you are saying though. However, how many internet users fully appreciate the risks involved? Show them the risks and then let them make informed decisions.

[NooNoo]

but you can order sp2 on a free cd...or get it off any magazine...yes even in the UK..pcworld carries them.

Security updates are automatic with it and SP2 does go through the firewall and AV settings....

People turn off their av because it interferes with their p2p and deletes emails!! You can educate all you like, but at the end of the day there will always be those who refuse to learn or to help themselves. You will probably find that they moan about the car breaking down alot too!

[TechZ]

Alot of people dont see the value of prevention before they get into trouble(virus/trojan/malware), thats another thing. They think nothing will happen to them, and when it does, they blame everything else, except for their own stupidity/lack of knowledge.