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Windows Vista Security: Has Microsoft finally done it?
Friday, July 14th, 2006
After a long wait, the successor to Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system is nearly here, and 
it’s certainly making a lot of noise after being quiet for so long. Initial beta testers report funky new graphics and enhanced user-friendly functionality, but what of the security? Microsoft solemnly pledged to upgrade its security after years of bad press and worse exploits, but even the software giant concedes there is no "silver bullet that can address every current and future security threat". So what has Microsoft actually done, and how does the industry view the changes?
The new Vista is a very different animal to the familiar XP, a dramatically altered architecture giving a noticeably larger OS footprint, with more than a nod in the promised security direction.
Microsoft has clearly paid attention to its critics and really gone to town on security. Features such as User Account Control (UAC), which stops users from constantly running as administrators, and Windows Service Hardening, which performs a similar task with the services themselves, have both been well received.
"UAC is a really useful means of tying down user privileges, which has not been addressed fully before. UAC is the company’s big push to reduce the platform’s overall attack surface and enforce the principle of least privilege," says Alan Coburn, managing consultant at dns. News - IT Security News - SC Magazine UK
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