To help combat the overall threat of botnets, Comcast is now testing a new service that pop ups an alert message on the screen of a Comcast subscriber if their PC has possibly been hijacked for use in a botnet.
Botnets, groups of hijacked PCs, continually cause large problems for ISPs and government anti-fraud units. The larger botnets have thousands, occasionally millions of compromised PCs, and have increased in use as cyber criminals look for new methods to scam PC users and corporations.
The following message pops up if possible botnet activity is detected: "Comcast has detected that there may be a virus on your computer(s). For information on how to clean your computer(s), please visit the Comcast Anti-Virus Center."
Subscribers cannot refuse the pop ups, but have the ability to close all warning banners without any required action. Comcast designed the service to show a reminder every seven days if nothing has been done to fix the issue.
Comcast is testing the new service in the metropolitan Denver area, but hopes to introduce it nationwide at some point. Comcast's efforts happen to be one of the most aggressive tactics I've seen by ISPs used so far, a trend that could continue later down the road.
I'm not very keen on having even more pop ups shown while using my computer, but some PC users will likely want to make sure their PC is fully under their control.
