Microsoft Australia vamps up security awareness
Microsoft Australia vamps up security awareness
Microsoft Australia are planning to travel around the country in a concerted effort to educate IT professionals on how to increase security in Microsoft systems in the glare of increasing attacks from malicious software codes and viruses.
They will also tell people about their roadmap to introduce new technologies that will help the systems become much stronger in the face of constant attacks.
This follows a key note speech made recently by Bill Gates at the recent RSA conference 2004 in San Francisco.
Bill Gates talked about new and emerging technologies designed to help improve security of IT systems and build resiliency in to desktop and server systems: "The industry is facing an increasingly complex and sophisticated security landscape.Security advancements, as well as industry collaboration and innovations in security technology for the future, will play a key role in providing users with a safer and more seamless computing experience."
Microsoft are planning to invest in security technologies that can be integrated into PCs to prevent the infiltration of worms and viruses.
Security enhancements will be made to Windows XP Service Pack 2, including Windows Firewall, Windows Security Centre and browsing enhancements in Internet Explorer.
Bill Gates also announced new measures for Spam Reduction and providing better email protection on servers, safeguarding them from viruses and junk email.
Ben English, Microsoft Australia's security team leader, elaborated on what would be happening in Australia: "Our seminars across Australia will educate IT professionals on how to improve security on their PCs with already built in software. We are going to tell people how to properly activate patch management and system hardening configuration to prevent viruses creeping through.
We will tell the professionals how valuable it is to deploy patch management software more regularly, so that it can catch out potential viruses early. Patch management is about keeping the systems up to date and configuring it in the right way, keeping the systems clean and less vulnerable to dangerous exports.
System hardening involves configuring the system to reduce hatches so there are lower surface areas for hackers to attack and sneak through.
We will develop new technologies which will improve the firewall and close down unused ports so there will be less chance of viruses finding their targets."
As well as educating IT professionals on how to make the best use of Microsoft's security systems and the new technologies, they also intend to educate developers on how to build applications much more securely too, so they cause less harm to operating systems.
A series of one-day seminars on security will run in Australian cities between March 1 to 18th.
Click here for details.
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