Yesterday, we announced we were taking our Constant Guard Bot Detection and Notification service nationally. As the nation's largest ISP, we have a responsibility to protect our customers from online threats, and this is yet another step we've taken in this direction. Bots are a fairly new phenomenon, and as the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) pointed out earlier this year a healthy majority of consumers don't understand what a bot is. A good article to read is Elinor Mills' post at CNET.

One of the first things we're trying to do is educate our customers about bots and what they can do about them. Our bot detection and notification service is an effective network-based solution, which means there is no software for our customers to download, and absolutely no searching into individual's computers. So our customers can have peace of mind knowing that Comcast takes their security and privacy very seriously, and is working to protect them without customers having to take additional steps to benefit from this offering.

So what are we doing and how does this work? Let me take a step back and explain. A bot is a malicious form of software that is remotely controlled like a "robot" by someone with a criminal intent. Many bots are commanded to send spam or host phishing websites (which are "fake" websites intended to trick people into entering credit cards or social security numbers). Other bots track every keystroke typed on a keyboard. A cyber criminal can comb through that data to find usernames and passwords that lead to identity theft and financial fraud.

To set up a bot, a cyber criminal establishes what is known as a "command and control center" (CNC). This is essentially the bot's brain, which is sent instructions by the person who set it up. The command and control center sits out in the Internet somewhere at a specific IP (Internet Protocol) address. Many of these IP addresses can be identified and flagged by security professionals, Internet engineers and others. Since we know that any communication with the known CNC is from a bot, when contact is made our system sends a notification to the Customer IP address that made contact with it.

Many customers have multiple devices connected to their modems - desktop PCs, wireless laptops, gaming consoles, smart phones, iPads and more - so any one of them could be the one that is receiving commands from the bot.

Cyber criminals are getting more and more sophisticated and we encourage our customers and all consumers to remain vigilant. Be careful what you download to your computers and devices, use up-to-date anti-virus software and take the time to talk with your kids or grandkids or friends about how to remain safe online. For more information, visit www.comcast.net/security.

Our Constant Guard service (introduced in October 2009) is the result of a multi-year effort to create a comprehensive approach to protect our customers from increasingly sophisticated online security threats.

One of the most pressing threats has to do with bots - or robots - which are a malicious form of software that can take over your computer and command it to do things like send spam, host a phishing website or lead to identity theft by collecting all your keystrokes - like user IDs and passwords.

The National Cyber Security Alliance has called bots "one of the fastest growing cyber crimes," and recent research estimates the cost of identity theft fraud in the United States increased 12.5 percent in 2009 to $54 billion. A lot of that theft was the result of cyber criminals using bots.

As the nation's largest ISP, we're doing our part to detect bots and notify customers who we believe may have a computer that is being controlled by one. Last year, we launched an automatic bot detection and notification trial in Denver. During the trial, customers with computers that appeared to be infected with bots received a notification informing them of the potential bot infection and links to resources they could use to check and remove the bot.

Response to the trial was very positive and today we are beginning to roll-out the bot notification and detection service nationally on a market-by-market basis.

As we enter a market, customers will receive an e-mail announcement letting them know the Constant Guard service is now available in their area. Bot notifications will be first sent by e-mail. Once we are rolled out to all markets, we will add on an in-browser Service Notification (see image below), which makes it quick and easy to take action.

We hope you will agree that the Constant Guard service from Comcast is a useful way to that Comcast can help protect you from a variety of online threats. Let me know what you think.

We here at NFL Network could not be more excited about covering the new season of NFL football featuring shows like NFL GameDay, NFL Total Access, NFL Replay, just to name a few, and Thursday Night Football games. It also means it's time for a project near and dear to us, Keep Gym in School. Now entering its third year, NFL Network's Keep Gym in School has awarded over $600,000 in Physical Education grants to middle schools nationwide. As PE programs around the country are getting cut or scaled back, and childhood obesity becomes an epidemic, we believe this to be a critical and important issue to address.

This year we have partnered with Comcast nationally and on a local level in Denver, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Oakland. In each city, we select one middle school and refurbish its PE program. Renovations are unveiled at a pep rally that kicks off a fitness program for every student. These events include players from each team and this year we are pleased to include Brian Dawkins of the Denver Broncos, Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons, Antwaan Randle El and Rashard Mendenhall from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rashied Davis from the Chicago Bears and Nnamdi Asomugha from the Oakland Raiders. Comcast will be running public service announcements featuring each of these players.

One student from each school with the most improved fitness level will be flown to New York City to attend the 2011 NFL Draft and receive an award from the Commissioner.

For the first time, if you know someone deserving of our new PE Teacher of the Year award, nominate him or her right now! You can also be a part of the movement to get active, too. Visit our website www.keepgyminschool.com for more information.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Comcast for its support of this program and its own initiatives such as Comcast Cares Day. Comcast continues to make a real difference in the communities it supports.

A message that you see consistently from us on the Comcast Voices blog is convergence. We're always looking for ways to make our products work better together. For example, the latest enhancement to the SmartZone Communications Center where we have integrated the SmartZone Calendar with our online remote programming application is available online via XFINITY TV and mobile via our iPhone and iPod touch app (and soon to be available on other mobile devices). SmartZone users can now log into the calendar and view their scheduled recordings, plus schedule a recording from one of the many calendar options in our sports and entertainment calendar gallery, where we just added NFL team schedules, NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar, and many of your favorite TV shows.

For those of you, who like me who are out-of-town sports fans, these new features came in handy the other weekend. As a Detroit sports fan living in Philadelphia, I was able to not only see that the Lions were playing the Eagles on TV in week 2 of the NFL season (and which channel the game was on), but I was able to schedule a DVR recording since I was going to miss the start of the game. Now if I could only figure out how to change the outcome of the game...

Whether it's getting ready for the new fall shows (Gleeks rejoice!) or following your favorite NFL team, the SmartZone Calendar makes it more convenient for you to plan your TV watching.

Login to the Calendar now and try it out!

Taylor Swift is coming to Comcast customers - again! Today Comcast announced our second partnership with the global superstar bringing our customers a world-premiere glimpse of four songs On Demand and online from her new album Speak Now. Check back next week for more Taylor Swift news....

Today Comcast and GE announced that Steve Burke will become CEO of NBC Universal upon the close of Comcast's acquisition of 51% of NBCU from GE.

For additional details, please visit Comcast.com.

In January 2010, we announced our plan to conduct IPv6 technical trials with our customers. Those trials are progressing well and we are delighted that over 7,000 customers have volunteered to participate. We also look forward to participating in efforts coordinated by the Obama Administration in a proactive effort to get the word out throughout the Internet ecosystem about the need for networks and applications to get ready for IPv6 - because making the switch is essential to ensure the continued growth and vibrancy of the Internet. This article that ran in the Washington, D.C. newspaper Politico sums up the issue well.