Industry welcomes plans for rapid takedown of infected web sites

Event director Claire Sellick explains that infected web sites are now a serious threat to Internet users. "The problem to date has been the electronic paper chase required for interested parties to complain that a site is causing infections or malware-laded links to visitors," she says. "If, as seems likely, Nominet adopts the plan, then a decision will be taken to take a site offline in very short order, where the intent is clearly criminal or the site appears to act as a conduit for malware," reveals Sellick. If the plans are adopted, she says, then the move will make the Internet a safer place to do business, although it is important to realise that the global nature of the web means that, until other national registries adopt similar procedures, there will still be the issue of infected sites. "Crime has a habit of seeking the path of least resistance and cybercrime is no exception. Reducing the risk of a UK business web site from being misused is always going to be welcome, even against the backdrop of the Wild West that the Internet has become in some areas," says Sellick. Infosecurity Europe runs at Earls Court, London 19—21 April 2011 www.infosec.co.uk