Microsoft chief says security impacts everything
Microsoft chief says security impacts everything
In his keynote speech at the RSA Security Conference, currently taking place in San Francisco, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that security concerns impact on all their development work.
Gates said that Microsoft is spending more that US$6 billion on research and development this year, with the largest segment being allocated to security.
The news will be welcomed throughout the industry, as Microsoft's Windows O/S is notoriously prone to security flaws.
While the industry awaits the full-blown update to Windows, codenamed Longhorn, Gates revealed the Microsoft will be adding a number of enhancements to Windows XP, including a pop-up ad blocker within Internet Explorer and improved firewall protection.
Microsoft also previewed its new Windows Security Centre, a dashboard within Windows XP that provides instruction on how to patch PC vulnerabilities and check security settings.
Meanwhile, event organisers RSA Security announced that they were to collaborate with Microsoft to improve security in Microsoft environments by replacing static passwords with two-factor identification.
The new RSA SecurID for Windows works by combining something the user knows (such as a secret PIN) with a unique RSA SecureID token, which the user possesses, that generates a random, one-time password every 60 seconds. Thus, the system provides an extra layer of security without any additional hardware on the desktop.
"Despite highly publicised corporate security breaches caused by individuals who have circumvented password systems, many companies still rely on them for user access to desktops and the network domain," said Art Coviello, President and CEO at RSA Security. "RSA Security is working with Microsoft to give Windows enterprise customers a smart, simple alternative to static passwords, enabling them to avoid potentially expensive and damaging security breaches that can occur both inside and outside the firewall."
"Customers have told us they want strong, integrated authentication technology," added Michael Nash, Corporate VP for the Security Business and Technology Unit (SBTU) at Microsoft. "By using RSA SecurID two-factor authentication in place of traditional static passwords, customers will be able to more positively identify users before giving them access to systems and corporate resources."
Related Article: