Call to Banish Virus-Hit Computers from Internet

Computers infected with viruses could be expelled from the internet under a new industry code to control Australia’s plague of contaminated PCs. The federal government has given the internet industry an operate-or-legislate ultimatum to identify zombie computers involved in cyber-crime. The Internet Industry Association — whose members include major internet service providers Optus, Telstra, Vodafone, AAPT, Virgin and Hutchison 3G, as well as industry giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft — is preparing a voluntary industry code to come into force this year. The move follows industry intelligence that Australia now hosts the world’s third-highest number of zombie computers infected with malicious software that can attack other PCs, send spam, store child pornography or steal the user’s identity