Is Windows Vista Immune to Malware?
Now that Microsoft has released the Windows Vista operating system and the Office 2007 productivity suite, talk has shifted from months of launch-date speculation to concerns over specific safeguards needed to ensure that the new software is secure.
The software giant called the release the "most significant" in its history, while unveiling the long-awaited operating system upgrade for business customers. The formal launch took place on Thursday during a Microsoft event held at New York's Nasdaq stock exchange.
Businesses signing up for volume-licensing arrangements with Microsoft will get the first crack at the final versions of the new programs. However, there is another group lining up for a crack at the software too.
Safety Concerns
Malicious hackers have long been dialing the software giant's number. Almost the very instant that Microsoft ships a new application these days, at least so it seems, criminals are ready to subject the code to attacks with their malware.
By most accounts, Vista does not seem to be immune to such attacks, as some insiders had predicted, and likely will not end the plague of malware as we know it. In fact, according to UK-based security vendor Sophos, many of the viruses already "in the wild" are capable of infecting Vista.
That might be good news for security vendors, who have geared up for the big Vista release with several new suites of security products aimed at protecting users who are opting to go the Vista route, but it could come as a disappointment to those looking forward to the idea of an operating system more impervious to malicious attacks.
Ready to Go
Microsoft, for its part, maintains that the new operating system is highly secure and ready to block the onslaught of malicious code. In a statement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange "game-changing" applications.
Natalie Lambert, an analyst at Forrester Research, seemed to agree with Ballmer's claims. The most noticeable changes in the applications involve 3D graphics and improved search capabilities, she said, noting that the more important changes are less visible to the eye. The programs that Vista runs, she explained, have less access to the core of the operating system, closing a vulnerability that malicious hackers have exploited for many years.
But she did qualify her praise to some extent. "No software exists without vulnerabilities," she pointed out. "It is the nature of the beast."
Still, hackers are lurking in the wings, looking for openings in Microsoft's new software. And it appears as if they will have plenty of opportunities. Research firm IDC is predicting that in the first year of release, Vista will be installed on more than 100 million computers worldwide.
The software giant called the release the "most significant" in its history, while unveiling the long-awaited operating system upgrade for business customers. The formal launch took place on Thursday during a Microsoft event held at New York's Nasdaq stock exchange.
Businesses signing up for volume-licensing arrangements with Microsoft will get the first crack at the final versions of the new programs. However, there is another group lining up for a crack at the software too.
Safety Concerns
Malicious hackers have long been dialing the software giant's number. Almost the very instant that Microsoft ships a new application these days, at least so it seems, criminals are ready to subject the code to attacks with their malware.
By most accounts, Vista does not seem to be immune to such attacks, as some insiders had predicted, and likely will not end the plague of malware as we know it. In fact, according to UK-based security vendor Sophos, many of the viruses already "in the wild" are capable of infecting Vista.
That might be good news for security vendors, who have geared up for the big Vista release with several new suites of security products aimed at protecting users who are opting to go the Vista route, but it could come as a disappointment to those looking forward to the idea of an operating system more impervious to malicious attacks.
Ready to Go
Microsoft, for its part, maintains that the new operating system is highly secure and ready to block the onslaught of malicious code. In a statement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange "game-changing" applications.
Natalie Lambert, an analyst at Forrester Research, seemed to agree with Ballmer's claims. The most noticeable changes in the applications involve 3D graphics and improved search capabilities, she said, noting that the more important changes are less visible to the eye. The programs that Vista runs, she explained, have less access to the core of the operating system, closing a vulnerability that malicious hackers have exploited for many years.
But she did qualify her praise to some extent. "No software exists without vulnerabilities," she pointed out. "It is the nature of the beast."
Still, hackers are lurking in the wings, looking for openings in Microsoft's new software. And it appears as if they will have plenty of opportunities. Research firm IDC is predicting that in the first year of release, Vista will be installed on more than 100 million computers worldwide.
posted by Kintu at
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