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Time to turn the page on net filtering

By Peter Chen - posted Tuesday, 17 March 2009


Threats associated with malicious software (spyware, trojans, viruses) and predatory practices online (frauds) affect the financial and personal safety of many Australians, and the capacity of many computer users to understand risks and appropriate mitigating strategies is often low: providers of security products have an interest in talking up risks, while computer manufacturers are often less than forthcoming about the security of the systems they produce. This was evidenced most recently by Apple Corporation's recent reversal on advice that its customers should install and use anti-viral software.

Addressing these types of problems, and yes, including issues of content management for concerned parents, will require both top-down and bottom-up strategies. To date the Commonwealth - through the 2004 Inquiry into recent trends in practices and methods of cybercrime - has largely focused on top-down initiatives: improvements to national surveillance, law enforcement activities, and programs aimed at financial institutions. Bottom-up strategies - hardening individual user’s computers against online threats - has remained a relatively under developed activity, largely focused on some programs to increase consumer education and awareness.

We have to be realistic about the level of current and up-to-date information about risks most computer users can be expected to maintain. While groups like NetAlert and the Australian High Tech Crime Centre provide updates and educational materials, and some major exploits get coverage in the technical section of the larger newspapers, these scatter gun approaches to awareness and education are unlikely to significantly improve the security of Australian internet users at the population level.

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Simple “heuristic” safeguards, such as avoiding email attachments, have become less useful as criminals have become more sophisticated in delivering malicious software through compromised websites and other exploits. This sophistication has led to an expansion in the growth of “botnets” - armies of co-ordinated compromised computers - compounding the insecurity of the internet and encouraging greater activity by criminals.

Online security is like vaccination, you need a critical mass to lower the overall threat level. Australia could take a big step in addressing this issue from a completely fresh perspective.

In developing a reasonable response, therefore, the Commonwealth needs to expand its actions considerably. First, given the rapid spread of modern threats via the internet, the government has to identify that all computers online need to have access to prompt updates for operating systems and key software (such as browsers). This means admitting that the 1.5 million (as at 2008) remaining dial-up connections are obsolete and there’s a security imperative behind the development of our new broadband infrastructure.

In addition, Australian governments’ needs to engage with consumers at the point-of-sale level, considering what type of minimum safety requirements may be needed in computers, just as minimum safety requirements are built into other products. The difficulty of this approach for Senator Conroy is that this is not the type of solution that can be dropped onto the public top-down: it would require action by the State and Territory governments, in agreement, and with a clear identification of the real risks we face online, and the best approaches to address them.

That would be the start of a whole different type of conversation that the one we're currently not having.

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Postscript

Following the submission of this article, the Australian Communication and Media Authority released a report - Australia in the Digital Economy: Trust and Confidence (PDF 610KB). The report, based on user survey data, observes that many people with home internet connections are employing minimal security practices.  In addition the report observes that self-reported information technology literacy is not a strong determinant that Australian internet users will engage in practices to reduce online risks. The report’s main policy conclusion is renewed emphasis on end user education.

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About the Author

Dr Peter John Chen is a lecturer in politics and public policy at the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.

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