[ISN] CERT Australia pushes on network security

[InfoSec News]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/cert-australia-pushes-on-network-security/story-e6frgakx-1225805518322

By Karen Dearne
The Australian
December 01, 2009

The new computer emergency response team, CERT Australia, will expect 
internet service providers to be more active in cleaning up infected 
computers operating on their networks.

Following the federal government's e-security review last year, the 
Internet Industry Association has been hammering out a voluntary ISP 
code of practice aimed at identifying botnet activity and alerting 
customers to security breaches.

Attorney-General's Department national security resiliency division head 
Mike Rothery said CERT Australia would be a two-way clearing house for 
notifications from local and international authorities, with 
responsibility for tracking down compromised machines in Australian 
domains.

"We'll be establishing relationships with our CERT counterparts so that 
if we identify (attacks coming from) compromised machines overseas, we 
can ask those authorities to trace the actual owners and seek that those 
be cleaned up," Mr Rothery said.

"Where identified machines appear to be in Australia -- and the 
notification may come from overseas or from a local ISP or web hosting 
company -- we will track down the owners through their ISP or web host 
and tell them their machines have been compromised.

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