Microsoft CEO: Hackers Getting Smarter
473284
Microsoft Corp.'s chief executive believes it's naive to suggest the software giant can eliminate all security vulnerabilities in its various products even though engineers are trying hard to do so.
338524
Keeping information secure in this age of laptop-lugging workers is the tech industry's most formidable challenge, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday.
381915
Microsoft issues patches for holes that could allow remote attackers to gain control of your PC.
126894
Microsoft is undercutting its competitors in order to make headway in security market, CEO says.
174877
By Jon Swartz  SAN FRANCISCO -- In his swan song to an annual gathering of 15,000 computer security experts here Tuesday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the software giant has made giant strides in security.
298750
A critical flaw in Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer Web browser could allow a hacker to take control of a computer, the world&#39;s largest software maker said Wednesday.
105890
(InfoWorld) - Security managers have to keep their cool and clearly communicate with chief information officers (CIOs) during a crisis affecting company networks, a top security official with Microsoft said Wednesday. Otherwise, trying to educate CIOs in a panic mode will complicate how an attack is countered, said Greg Galford, Microsoft security architect, who gave a presentation at the EuSecWest 2007 security conference in London on Thursday. Galford was a technical lead during a massive attack on Microsoft's network in 2000 that prompted the company to make many changes to its networks and its response approach. He now works with Microsoft's Security Response Center, which handles new vulnerabilities and exploits affecting the company's software. The hacking attack in 2000 wasn't a huge surprise, since Microsoft was using much of its own newly developed software that had security faults, Galford said. At the time, the company wasn't nearly as vigilant as it is now about security, he said. Microsoft had a huge web of insecure connections leading to its corporate network, including employees who worked from home and connections security officials were unaware even existed, Galford said. The company also mistakenly made public much information on how its own corporate networks were constructed, which likely aided hackers. One network engineer had even made most of the information on his hard drive available over the Internet, he said. "We shot ourselves in the foot," Galford said. During its response, Microsoft learned hard lessons in how to communicate developments up the chain of command. Technical people have to be separated from management. CIOs need to be told regularly when they will be briefed again after receiving an update, Galford said. "We had executives coming down to the offices of people that were doing the actual technical work," Galford said. Ideally, management should be briefed before a crisis, so they know how the response will proceed, Galford said. Also, security managers need to know how to communicate in nontechnical terms for CIOs who may not have the same background, he said. CIOs "are always worried about what's going on," Galford said.
670395
(InfoWorld) - Trying to lock down your company's applications and protect your systems from attack? If so, security scanners and source-code analysis tools are not up to the job -- despite vendor claims to the contrary. "There's an awful lot of marketing spiel, people introducing technology tools that are sold as silver bullets," said Mark Curphey, vice president of professional services at McAfee's Foundstone division, in an interview. "The reality is, in a large enterprise, those things generally don't work." "Technology is increasing at such a fast and crazy pace, but security technology isn't keeping up with it. With application security it's even worse," Curphey said. Security tools, such as code scanners, are able to detect just 1 percent to 2 percent of vulnerabilities in an application, leaving "gaping holes" behind, he said. Curphey, who has worked on security for U.S. financial institutions, is speaking this week at the Hack In The Box Security Conference (HITB) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Software vendors and companies must get back to basics to secure their applications. "What the smart banks are doing about this is they're building security into their development life cycles and that's exactly what Microsoft has done," he said. Since being hit by a series of high-profile vulnerabilities in its software, Microsoft hasÂ significantly improved the securityÂ of the software it produces, resulting in fewer critical vulnerabilities being reported. "Microsoft are going to be the security vendor of choice in the next couple of years," Curphey said. "There's been a phenomenal turnaround in that company." While a company's IT systems may never be perfectly secure, IT managers should be able to identify and mitigate risks. "At the end of the day, security is about building something that's secure enough to do business on," Curphey said. To help protect their systems, companies need to be sure they are hiring IT staff with the right set of technical skills, setting business processes that determine how to respond to attacks on the system, and providing staff with the tools they need to respond when attacks happen, he said. HITB runs through Thursday, Sept. 21.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
510270
Mobile malware is consistently increasing but poses a much lower security threat than that aimed at PCs, says CEO.
540373
CEO tells why the move to multicore chips is a necessary one, and how Intel "ate crow." Also: the Microsoft and AMD factors.
396901
A wave of attacks targeting Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2003 last year taught the company some tough security lessons it's now aggressively applying, a Microsoft software engineer said Friday.
104025
Less than a day after Microsoft detailed the latest Windows vulnerability, hackers were hunting for exploit codes. By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News.
277176
Speaking at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo 2004 in Orlando, Florida, yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined new security initiatives, some of which would make it into a pre-Longhorn &#39;Release 2&#39; for Windows, next year.
138213
Biometric and smart-card technology will replace passwords to verify ID, Microsoft head Bill Gates says--again.
678926
In an interview this morning from Buenos Aires with BetaNews, Core Security Chief Technology Officer IvÃÂ¡n Arce described a scenario whereby a malicious user could be able to trigger AOL's Instant Messenger into launching Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 Web browser, and then send it commands that enable that user to wrest full remote control of the AIM user's system.
163987
Following launch of corporate telephony software, Microsoft's chairman discusses how speech recognition has made inroads and where it has yet to go.Video: Gates' crystal ball
307950
Security experts said that while the new Service Pack 2 for Windows XP will bolster the operating system's security, hackers will still find a way to exploit any flaws.