Trilight Zone

[tricore]

Despite recently reported security issues with Windows Vista, Microsoft has expressed confidence that its new operating system is secure and reliable.

The Vista vulnerability that was reported by Microsoft just before the Christmas holidays has the capacity for letting a malicious hacker gain access to change user privileges.

Although proof-of-concept code has been posted online, the company has not seen any malware that takes advantage of the flaw, noted Mike Reavey, operations manager at Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC), in a blog posting.

Reavey stated that even though the vulnerability impacts Windows Vista, he still believes that Vista is the company's most secure platform to date. The MSRC encourages all users to enable a firewall, and apply all security updates.

Rocky Road

Computer security experts are watching Microsoft's moves in response to reported flaws, and are not hesitant in voicing their concerns.

A California-based security firm, Determina, noted recently that it found a serious error in the software code that supports Internet Explorer 7, the updated browser that comes with Vista or can be downloaded from Microsoft's site.

Meanwhile, security vendor Trend Micro stated in early December that a zero-day Vista flaw was being sold online, with a price tag of $50,000.

It is expected that hackers will be aggressive in going after Vista, security experts have noted. Microsoft is always considered to be a favorite target because of its large user base.

Work in Progress

The latest round of security issues comes at the same time as analysts are noting that Vista has a long way to go before it completely replaces Windows XP or older systems. However, most expected that Vista would take time to roll out, both in enterprises and with consumers.

"Enterprises will need to do a great deal of testing before they fully employ Vista," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver. He predicts that most companies will likely do at least 18 months of application testing with the new operating system.

Also, enterprises in particular are likely to monitor what type of issues Vista has in its first few months of release, a timeframe that usually reveals major and minor bugs in any software or system.

Issues with Vista could include patching, anti-phishing filter technology, and the system's compatibility with other applications.

"There are a number of issues, like metadata management for example, that will need to be addressed before Vista is deployed," said Silver. "Companies right now are doing planning and setting policies."