Jay Opperman, Senior Director of Security and Privacy, Comcast Corporation

As October is National Cyber Security Awareness month, we were pleased to be able to make an announcement about a program we have undertaken to help protect our customers from online security threats.  As the largest residential Internet service provider in the U.S., we also want to continue to help raise awareness about online safety issues.

Last week, we unveiled our “Constant Guard” program, which is the name of our comprehensive approach to help protect our high-speed Internet customers from bots, viruses and other online threats.  The program is the culmination of a multi-year effort to assemble a dedicated team of security professionals, implement best-in-class security software and create a Security Web portal (www.comcast.net/security) chock full of consumer resources to protect customers from increasingly sophisticated online threats.  (The site also contains links to organizations like NCSA that are dedicated to online safety.)

Bots and malicious software from hackers are getting more and more sophisticated.  In fact, according to the NCSA, bots are the Internet’s fastest-growing cyber crime.  A bot, also known as a Web robot, is a form of malicious software that is used to gain control over a computer, typically without the owner of the computer even knowing it.  Bots are the leading cause of spam and are also responsible for identity theft, information theft and denial of service attacks.

Today, when customers’ home PC(s) appear to be infected with a bot, Comcast’s Customer Security Assurance (CSA) team proactively calls customers to notify them.  The CSA team also offers to assist with removing the bot and provides instructions to help customers reset their security settings.  Comcast is one of the only ISPs taking this proactive approach and we have been doing so for over a year.

As the number of customers who have PCs that get infected with bots has increased, we also developed a Web browser Service Notice tool that also will enable us to inform customers that their computer(s) appear to be infected.  A trial program using the Service Notice began on October 8^th in Denver, CO.  Eventually, we plan to roll it out nationally.  (A white paper on the process is available at www.comcast.net/networkmanagement and has been filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force for comment.)  The Service Notice provides a hyperlink to a Web site where the customer can take immediate steps to assist with removing the bot or virus as well as learn more about how they can protect themselves in the future from identity and/or information theft.

We encourage everyone to learn more about how to protect themselves from online threats by visiting www.comcast.net/security or by reading information provided here by NCSA and others.