 |
 |
 |
Hackers tip hat to Vista security
Monday, August 7th, 2006
When a group of Microsoft Corp. employees first attended the Black Hat hacker convention in 
the late 1990s, the company’s security reputation was so bad that one of them says the experience was like constantly hearing people criticize his mother. Apparently, things have changed.
Members of the Black Hat audience responded to Microsoft’s briefings on Windows Vista security Thursday not with hostility but with polite interest. The real test won’t come until after Windows Vista’s retail release next year, but several people said Microsoft appears to have made the operating system more secure.
"They’ve listened to the security community," said one attendee, a 32-year-old "security engineer by day and hacker by night" from the Washington, D.C., area who goes by "Beetle" and declined to give his real name.
Others cited areas where they believe Microsoft still needs to improve. HD Moore, a security researcher who recently called attention to unfixed bugs in Web browsers, including Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, said he believes the company takes too long to develop and issue patches for flaws in its programs.
"They’re not really negligent, so much as just non-responsive and slow to move," Moore said, adding that it’s hard to get Microsoft to speed up unless there’s a looming threat of someone exploiting a particular vulnerability. Security News: Hackers tip hat to Vista security
Popular Posts
Please read our Disclaimer
