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Microsoft Says Vista Most Secure OS Ever

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the that's-evar dept.

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."

9 of 440 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe true today, but by SIGALRM · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Vista is the most secure operating system in the industry
    Of course it is... virtually no one is using it yet. While Vista is obscure, it follows that there will be little exploitive effort.

    As always, future history is yet to be written--although it tends to reflect and repeat the past.
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  2. Meanwhile... by Tweekster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Those blackhats are just making notes of the real vulnerabilities while reporting simple superficial ones.

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  3. Depends on the definition. by jcr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the "industry" he's referring to is "the MIcrosoft operating systems industry"...

    -jcr

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    1. Re:Depends on the definition. by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I am more curious about their definition of "secure."

      Secure against whom?

      KFG

  4. Black hat? by gcnaddict · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Arent the white hat hackers typically the ones employed for legitimate jobs such as this? Now I'm confused :-s

    Could someone explain the difference between the two so I can make sure I didnt screw up?

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    1. Re:Black hat? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Imagine you are a black hat hacker, and are asked to evaluate the security. Wouldn't you be very tempted to keep silent about a few security problems you found, in order to exploit them later?
      What would you think if an airport employed terrorists as security personnel because they know better what to look for?

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      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  5. Re:This is laughable by DeadChobi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, wow. So they're going to top Vista off with being MORE ANNOYING than Windows XP? You mean I'm actually going to have to be prompted every time I want to do something? There'd better be a way to turn this off or I'm never going to buy a copy of Vista.

    It's bad enough to be prompted every 15 minutes for a restart after I've installed updates, EVEN IF I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING. Yes, Windows will pull me out of full-screen just to tell me that it has finished installing updates. To top it all off, I wont be able to browse the internet or insert CDs without some twat at Microsoft building the program to assume that I dont know what the fuck I'm doing with my computer? Sounds like a brilliant security strategy. Piss people off enough so that they never use your OS.

    That kind of treat-you-like-you're-stupid shit is what makes me dread installing updates. I dont give a shit that I need to restart to install updates. Windows has waited for weeks for me to restart, and I dont need the constant nagging while it's waiting. Let me know when Vista has had its obligatory "dont treat me like I'm a mindless twat computer user" update. Then I'll get it.

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  6. bummer of a birth mark... by slashname3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft just painted a huge bullseye on Vista. If the hackers were not interested in spending time finding exploits they will now. Waving red flags and yelling watch this are things you should not do unless you know for sure the bull is in the other corral or that you are an expert at the stunt you are about to try and pull. Microsoft is in the same corral with the hackers and they are not experts on OSes based on past performance.

    From my favorite FarSide cartoon: Two deer standing in the woods, one has a bullseye on his chest, the other one says, "Bummer of a birth mark Hal."

  7. Re:Microsoft + Stupid Claims = ... by Foofoobar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And oddly enough, exploits were already found that affect XP as well as VISTA. But since Vista isn't even out yet, they don't have to patch anything.

    Honestly, I think Vista is their Titanic and they just solidified this feeling by claiming that it's 'unsinkable'

    Ahoy! Iceberg ahead...

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