As discussed in this thread,
http://www.suggestafix.com/cgi-bin....38;t=20
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British service provider TELEWEST is the first to suspend the accounts of customers who fail to patch their virus infected systems and leave them running on the Internet.

In the aftermath of the most destructive virus ever produced, Nimda, TELEWEST is the first among a growing number of ISPs that plan to suspend or cancel the accounts of customers that fail to initiate basic security procedures to update their antivirus definitions or operating system patches in order to prevent viral infections.

The destructive Nimda virus was unleashed into the wild last month, and comprised a mass-mailing component enabling it to propagate on an enormous scale. The worm propogates in a variety of ways: it can arrive as an attachment entitled Readme.exe, and is programmed to automatically archive the attachment so that the executable file can run without the end user having to double-click on it. Nimda can also be spread from infected servers running Microsoft IIS software, which it uses to attack other servers across the Internet.

Operating system patches that address Nimda were available months before the virus made it's appearance as a solution for other security issues. It is considered the fault of sub-standard practices by careless and incompetent security managers that Nimda has been able to spread so quickly and has had such an enormous impact on the Internet.

The ISP crackdown is an attempt to prevent infected systems from searching the web for other potential victims, in order to isolate infected machines and slow the spread of the virus, which eats up precious Internet bandwidth as it grows and scans for other systems.

An email from FREESERVE was circulated to all customers that read: "It is important that Internet users take safeguards against viruses of this nature. Your PC may otherwise become infected without your knowledge. If this happens, you may easily infect other peoples' PCs with which you have contact."

This is the shape of things to come on the Internet. It is the responsibility of computer owners, site managers and security administrators to ensure their systems remain virus free and do not contribute to future security issues like Nimda. Nimda is only the "tip of the iceburg" when considering the future potential of viruses on the Internet, and if remaining online without violating terms of service means users are going to be forced into maintaining a basic set of standards with regards to system security, they are going to have to accept that responsibility or lose the privilege of accessing the Internet.