“It has been almost two years since Steve Ballmer addressed this audience making a companywide commitment that Microsoft would make security a top priority, and we have been focused on delivering on that commitment,” said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business and Technology Unit at Microsoft . “We’ve taken the feedback we’ve received from customers and partners and turned that into action, making notable strides developing more secure products, and delivering essential guidance and tools to help customers be more secure.”
Nash illustrated the increased resiliency of newer platforms such as Windows XP Service Pack SP2 with advanced security technologies. He shared data showing measurable improvements in the security of Windows XP SP2 over older versions of the operating system. Windows XP SP2 has one-half the number of critical vulnerabilities compared with Windows XP, Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 Professional in the first nine months since Windows XP SP2’s release in August 2004. In addition, customers using Window XP SP2 are 13 to 15 times less likely to be infected by some of the most prevalent malicious software relative to customers using earlier versions of Windows XP, according to internal Microsoft analysis.
In addition to making the case for adopting Microsoft’s newest platforms, Nash gave an update on new technologies Microsoft is offering to provide added protection against malicious attacks and unwanted software:
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The Windows AntiSpyware beta, which improves Internet browsing safety by guarding against more than 50 ways Web sites and programs can place spyware on a PC, has been downloaded more than 21 million times and has removed tens of millions of spyware packages since its release six months ago. |
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The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) checks for and removes the most prevalent malicious software families from computers and has had 831 million executions since it was introduced in January. |
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Windows OneCare™, which helps protect and maintain computers and provides an integrated service that includes anti-virus, firewall, PC maintenance, and data backup and restore functionality, will be released in a series of betas this year. |
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Microsoft’s Sybari Antigen antivirus products help deliver reliable server-level protection and improved virus detection rates using a multiple scan engine approach, offering customers choice and the most up-to-date protection possible.
Enhance your skills at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2005, September 13-16th, in Los Angeles. PDC05 was created by developers for developers. Learn more! |