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Newbie/Basic Questions

Whole country affected

Author: M.Baikhardt (9 Apr 10 2:48pm)

Hello PHP

We really do have a problem over here in The Gambia. Our "main ISP" offers for the majority of their users NAT'ed Internet access! We just share a small amount of IP's (5-10) and as a rapidly developing country, Internet access is very common. But over here are some really bad maintained computer systems which are affected by malicious software and therefore pollute the Internet with spam and other unnecessary garbage.

Trapped in a honey pot - My story
Our brilliant web hoster in U.S.A. uses Project Honey Pot to protect their infrastructure (cool thing, would do the same). Since we have obviously too many spamer, hacker and co. we got of course black-listed. Now, a newspaper, several companies, government departments and some individuals simply can't access their mail, web etc. servers any more because of this situation. So, does anyone have an idea how to solve this problem?

Best regards,
Marco

Re: Whole country affected

Author: A.Degives Mas (9 Apr 10 7:18pm)

(Edited to clarify: I'm not speaking for Project Honey Pot but just as a happy fellow PHP contributor!)

I'm not a former president, but I can feel your pain nonetheless.

I'm afraid there's little alternative to starting a viral campaign, insisting that people check their systems, install appropriate updates and patches for their operating system, and implement and use proper malware protection methods (good software is available for free) and, of course, to do regular sweeps (system scans) to make sure the systems are and remain clean.

A second key point in that campaign would be to advocate on a different although somewhat related point, as it's not too uncommon to find e.g. non-officially licensed software installed, to use either free alternatives (especially AbiWord or OpenOffice come to mind for day-to-day usage, as popular replacements for the also popular MS Office) or, of course, to acquire the appropriate official licenses.

This second issue is e.g. also a nagging and rampant problem in Spain, where software piracy and ensuing unsafe practices of downloading untrustworthy material from untrustworthy sources contributes massively to an already serious problem of compromised systems.

If your campaign is successful, and people indeed adopt a more common-sense approach to using their computers in a safe and secure manner, I am absolutely positive that the undoubtedly large majority of legitimate computer users in Gambia will stop suffering the consequences of an irresponsible minority.

In other words, I'm afraid that it's a problem that doesn't have any "simple" solutions other than changing people's minds.

Ending on a positive note, I think it is a very good thing that people are starting to see the (very) negative consequences of willingly or out of neglect helping criminals out there in the world, who have an extremely parasitic and toxic effect on the users worldwide of computers and the Internet as a whole. So, I commend you for your efforts to help thwart forms of conduct that affects and hurts many people around the world, not "just" in Gambia. So, thanks for making the world a better place by taking the right steps!

Post Edited (9 Apr 10 7:19pm)