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Microsoft Says Vista Most Secure OS Ever

darryl24 writes "Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia opened up TechEd 2006 in Boston Sunday evening by proclaiming that Windows Vista was the most secure operating system in the industry. But a bold statement can only go so far, and much of this week's conference has been spent reinforcing that point. Microsoft also acknowledges that nothing is infallible when it comes to computer security. In turn, the company has employed black hat hackers for what is called a penetration, or pen, test team."

10 of 440 comments (clear)

  1. This doesn't work. by JamesF1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Microsoft claim that this is the most secure OS to date... but they also claim that it's incredibly stable. I don't get how that works.

    If you want security, use Windows 95... A crashed computer is incredibly secure - far more secure than Vista.

  2. Pass the linctus by ettlz · · Score: 2, Informative
    Cough! OpenBSD Coughhhhhhh!

    Sorry about that. Did someone say Microsoft thinks they've got "t3h m0st s3cur3 05 ev4r lollll!!!!1111" or something?!

  3. Black hat?? Come on guys. by TheDarkener · · Score: 4, Informative

    "...the company has employed black hat hackers...

    By definition, if you employ hackers to test an operating system, they are NOT "black hat" hackers - they are, at best, "grey hat" hackers.

    Definition from Wikipedia:

    Usually a Black hat is a person who maintains knowledge of the vulnerabilities and exploits they find as secret for private advantage, not revealing them either to the general public or the manufacturer for correction.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  4. Just FYI by sammysheep · · Score: 2, Informative
    "In turn, the company has employed black hat hackers for what is called a penetration, or pen, test team."
    I think "black hat" would not be quite the term to describe this sort of activity. The term "white hat" is usually used for hired hacks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hat.
  5. Re:Microsoft + Stupid Claims = ... by Aladrin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, 'release' isn't a magical point where an OS becomes hackable. There's PLENTY of beta copies of vista out there if hackers wanted to play with it.

    They haven't told us about any exploits they've found, but some crackers hold their exploit until the day of release and use it on retail, instead of beta. This allows them a '0-day release' that would be impossible otherwise for something with this much 'security'.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  6. Re:MS Airforce Attacks OpenBSD Leader, Servers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    fyi: MSFT is NASDAQ listed - not NYSE listed. so it should be (Nasdaq: MSFT)

  7. Exactly... by Nick+Driver · · Score: 2, Informative

    No one can compromise an OS that hasn't even been released yet.

    Exactly... just like this one.

  8. Re:Well, I suppose in the end, it *is* secure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    This may seem like a joke but I spent an hour trying to install a Flash active-X plugin on IE in XP_64 running as Adminstrator and finally gave up. The series of prompts from the OS were painfully close to the scenario presented in this "joke" post.

  9. Vista already had malware written for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    No one can compromise an OS that hasn't even been released yet.

    Really?
    http://news.com.com/First+potential+virus+risk+for +Windows+Vista+found/2100-7349_3-5819428.html

    But then, Microsoft did the same claim about their Windows XP, touting it to be the most secure version of Windows, and even rolling such funny ads as this one, promoting XP:
    http://www.dolphinwave.org/Media/Local/msbanner_12 .gif

    And then there was MS Blast, probably the most devastating blast against Windows at those times...

    Now they claim it to be not just the most secure Windows, but the most secure OS! Imagine the magniture of the next upcoming hit it will take...

  10. Re:BOOT CD's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    of course for that part I would need a hard drive, since I know of no game that will do this.

    Of course you would not need a hard drive for that, you can play a lot of games off a live CD, too:
    http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6136

    I used it, tried demos of Doom-3, Quake-4, UT2004, America's Army, Cube... Runs great. No HD - just boot a DVD and play. Oh, and you also have a full-blown working desktop with OpenOffice at your fingertips. All from a bootable DVD.