Most PCs become botnet "zombies" without the user's knowledge, and they remain zombies because no one told them that they were infected -- or what to do about it.

Damballa this week is attacking this issue with a new version of its CSP technology, which is designed to help Internet and telecommunications service providers detect botnet infections and notify users as to how to fix the problem.

Damballa introduced CSP 1.6, a cyberthreat solution designed to detect subscriber malware infections in ISP and telecommunications provider networks. By monitoring a carrier’s DNS activity for malicious network traffic, Damballa CSP identifies cyberthreat activity on any type of subscriber device, including PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, and other mobile and smartphone platforms.

"What we're doing is enabling the service provider to warn [subscribers] of an incoming threat with an automated, in-browser notification," says David Holmes, vice president of marketing at Damballa. "That makes a difference not only for security, but for performance -- often, when the customer is complaining of lack of speed, the real problem is malware."

CSP 1.6 offers attribution for the subscriber infection, indicating its criminal intent, Damballa says. The service identifies the infection by type, such as Downloader, Multi-Purpose, DDoS, Information Stealer, and Exploit Kit.

The service also provides a description of the threat, including Threat Behavior, Malware Names, Observed Traits, and Capabilities.

In addition, Damballa announced a partnership with Microsoft that will help service providers to work with users on remediating the infections via the Microsoft Removal Tool.

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