A Microsoft security expert is encouraging organizations to quarantine unprotected computers infected by botnets by booting them off the Web.

Scott Charney, Microsoft vice president of trustworthy computing, said earlier this week that computers plagued with botnets should be treated in the same way as a person who is infected with a highly contagious disease, and urged governments, ISP and commercial organizations to emulate a public health model.

Charney's proposed public health approach was outlined in a paper Microsoft published Tuesday titled "Collective Defense: Applying Public Health Models To the Internet," which encouraged organizations to take alternate and collaborative approaches in preventing cyber threats.

"Just as when an individual who is not vaccinated puts others’ health at risk, computers that are not protected or have been compromised with a bot put others at risk and pose a greater threat to society," he wrote.

Charney extended the metaphor by saying that global health organizations often aim to control the spread of a disease by tracking and identifying affected individuals and if necessary, placing them in a location where others can't become infected