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Windows Vista security settings
Saturday, December 9th, 2006
Microsoft’s release of Windows Vista is here, and network administrators need to begin considering
deployment details. A major area of interest is the improved security features in Vista. Microsoft recently released the Windows Vista Security Guide, which provides network administrators with the information they need to begin developing security strategies for Vista deployments. There has been much discussion lately about the benefits of embedding traditionally standalone security functionality directly into the operating system. Microsoft clearly is a believer in transforming Windows into a security platform, and the initial release of Vista is a step in that direction.
The recently released Windows Vista Security Guide provides much-needed detail regarding suggested security settings for devices running Vista. It also calls out the limitations of each security feature and emphasizes the need for additional security products where appropriate. (This is especially significant given recent statements by Microsoft’s co-president, Jim Allchin, who suggested that it would be safe to run Vista with no additional third-party AV products.) Perhaps most important for network administrators, Microsoft also released an accompanying script for simplifying the setting of appropriate security configurations.
Microsoft’s new Windows operating system has been five years in the making. Part of the reason the project took so long was that expectations for security have changed considerably since the last full update to Windows. Microsoft has done a significant amount of work in both hardening Vista and incorporating traditionally standalone threat-protection capabilities directly into the operating system. The result is a product that by all early accounts is head and shoulders above its predecessors with regard to security. To its credit, the new Vista security guide makes clear the often-painful tradeoffs between security and functionality. Windows Vista security settings
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