Microsoft backtracks on internet quarantine idea

Microsoft has backtracked on a previous suggestion to put ISPs in charge of computer security, instead backing a "trusted certificate" model.

Last year, vice president of Trustworthy Computing Scott Charney said users should be quarantined by their ISPs if their PCs were infected, for the good of the whole internet.

At this year's RSA Conference, Charney has backtracked on that much-criticised idea, saying: “My thinking has evolved a great deal." He said such a system had "many flaws". For example, he noted consumers may not want their machines scanned by a third-party, and network-level controls would put a heavy burden on ISPs.