Intr-un articol de pe blog, un cercetator care lucreaza pentru Microsoft a sugerat ca PC-urile infectate cu virusi sau alte tipuri de malware ar trebui izolate si nu ar trebui sa aiba acces la Internet. Ideea a fost inspirata de sistemul sanitar.
Se clocesc planuri diabolice in randul cercetatorilor de la Microsoft. Intr-un articol de pe blog, Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President, Trustworthy Computing Team, a sugerat ca PC-urile infectate cu virusi care reprezinta un risc pentru alte calculatoare ar trebui izolate, fara sa mai aiba acces la Internet. Aceasta idee a fost inspirata de sistemul medical, unde pacientii care sufera de boli infectioase sunt pusi in carantina pentru a impiedica raspandirea bolii. Similar, plasarea PC-urilor infectate in carantina temporara ar opri raspandirea virusilor si ar permite curatarea sistemului:
“Just as when an individual who is not vaccinated puts others’ health at risk, computers that are not protected or have been compromised with a bot put others at risk and pose a greater threat to society. In the physical world, international, national, and local health organisations identify, track and control the spread of disease which can include, where necessary, quarantining people to avoid the infection of others. Simply put, we need to improve and maintain the health of consumer devices connected to the internet in order to avoid greater societal risk.”
Cum s-ar putea realiza acest lucru? Printr-un “control medical” (health check) facut inainte de conectarea PC-ului la Internet, care sa confirme daca acesta este “sanatos” sau nu. O astfel de testare ar trebui sa verifice in principiu daca toate update-urile pentru software sunt la zi, daca exista un firewall instalat si configurat corespunzator, daca laptop-ul / mini laptop-ul sau desktop-ul dispune de un software antivirus actualizat si daca PC-ul este infectat cu vreun malware cunoscut:
“Although the conditions to be checked may change over time, current experience suggests that such health checks should ensure that software patches are applied, a firewall is installed and configured correctly, an antivirus program with current signatures is running, and the machine is not currently infected with known malware.”
Prin urmare, un “certificat de sanatate” care sa dovedeasca faptul ca PC-ul este neinfectat inainte de a se conecta la Internet ar reprezenta solutia impotriva raspandirii virusilor. In cazul in care problemele detectate pe PC sunt foarte serioase, sau utilizatorul refuza sa produca un certificat de sanatate pentru calculatorul personal, Charney sugereaza ca ar trebui luate alte masuri, precum reducerea latimii de banda. Oprirea totala a accesului calculatorului la Internet ar putea fi totusi problematica, mai ales in cazurile in care utilizatorul incearca sa-si foloseasca PC-ul pentru o urgenta:
“An individual might be using his or her internet device to contact emergency services and, if emergency services were unavailable due to lack of a health inspection or certificate, social acceptance for such a protocol might rightly wane. But much like a cell phone may require a password but still allow emergency calls to be made even without that password, infected computers may still be permitted to engage in certain activities.”
Cercetatorul Microsoft si-a prezentat deja ideea in cadrul International Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) Conference din Berlin, Germania.