Qwest Communications International Inc., the provider of high-speed Internet access in 14 Western states, will monitor customers’ computer-network behavior so it can alert them to viruses and other malicious software.
The plan will help Qwest block hackers who hijack its customers’ computers to send unwanted spam e-mail, said Melodi Gates, the Denver-based company’s chief information security officer. While Qwest will monitor the network activity of users, it won’t scan the private contents of their computers.
The program, free to Qwest Internet subscribers, could help the company fend off rivals such as Comcast Corp., which also offer Internet and home phone service. Consumers are learning more about threats to their computers and may choose an Internet carrier based on its security features, said Chenxi Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Foster City, Calif.
“You could market this as a service differentiator,” Wang said.
Consumers aren’t as protected from malicious Internet software as businesses, she said.
In trials over the past year, the Qwest program detected suspicious behavior on the computers of more than 35,000 customers, Gates said.
Computer users are installing more complex software, increasing potential security holes, Wang said. The U.S. government’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which monitors Internet security, has handled more than 37,000 incidents in the past year, up from about 24,000 the year before, according to an agency statement.
When Qwest’s monitoring program detects suspicious activity, it temporarily blocks a computer’s ability to send e-mail or connect to websites. A warning message notes the problem and provides instructions on how to fix it.
Once customers acknowledge they have read the message, they regain the full use of the Internet connection.
