Microsoft will this month begin sharing knowledge of malware infected computers with the Australian communications watchdog, further extending its fight against botnets.

The software giant is already known for creative legal manoeuvres that have seen it working with law enforcement agencies to take down global networks of zombie computers that distribute spam and malicious software for profit.

Malnet: runs and analyses threat samples in a sealed environment.

It will now use information gathered at its little-known malware research lab in Australia to complete the picture of computer infections by IP address. It will furnish the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with a data feed of infected connections every 30 seconds.

The information is then passed on to internet service providers (ISPs) who may choose to contact individual customers with clean-up suggestions, deny them service to force the customer to contact the ISP directly or use it for its own risk mitigation.