Do ISPs Ignore Security Researchers Who Point Out Zombied Machines?
Over the last few years, we’ve all heard stories about how organized crime groups have taken to using botnets of “zombied” computers to run all sorts of scams and spam campaigns. ISPs have been somewhat slow to react. While they try to use fairly blunt instruments, like cutting off certain ports, many don’t seem to have a very good process in place for tracking down and stopping customers whose machines have become unwitting members in a botnet. In fact, security researchers are growing frustrated that when they come across evidence of a hijacked computer, ISPs don’t respond at all when told that a customer is causing trouble. There certainly are a few ISPs that are careful to help get rid of botnets, doing things like quarantining or cutting off certain users from their internet access until their machines are cleaned up, but most of the bigger ISPs don’t appear to do very much at all. Of course, there is the other side of this story — which is that when ISPs may be too proactive, it
