Larry Seltzer

Security is the lens through which I always view products like Windows Vista, and in that view it looks good. But there is a bigger picture with Vista for the industry: Its really, really different from previous versions. At many levels it requires a different approach. Security is just one prominent aspect of this, although […]

Just in time to address the anxiety that buyers might be feeling about recent embarrassing incidents of data loss due to stolen notebooks, the industry comes to the rescue to fill the niche. As much as you might argue that the notebook loss by the Department of Veterans Affairs and similar incidents were due to […]

Everybodys seen it by now. Spam is up like gangbusters in the last few months. And not just in volume; a lot more of it is getting through filtering mechanisms that had previously been pretty reliable. Its an aggravating and depressing situation. A number of factors have contributed to the situation, and what they all […]

Perhaps I was naive to think that security vendors would be appeased by Microsofts agreement to work with them around the limitations of PatchGuard. Some vendors remain defiant, some concerned. Some who were not concerned all along may simply not implement features that would be impeded by PatchGuard. After discussing the matter with Microsoft and […]

Are we on the verge of a revolution in authentication in this country? Many vendors and analysts feel that the impending implementation of the governments Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 mandate could lead to one. Heres the actual presidential directive. The government goals in this effort are to create a uniform and secure form of identification […]

To my mind its been obvious for many, many years, since before we even spoke of “botnets”: The only way to stop them is to get ISPs on board, to have them look for malicious behavior and stamp it out, even from paying customers. Recently a large ISP took such a step: BT (that used […]

You may not have noticed, but major changes are being implemented in the domain registrar business. As the operator of the .com and .net registries, VeriSign is the hub through which all domain registrars must operate. They do so through a set of software protocols. On Oct. 28, the old protocol, RRP (Registry Registrar Protocol) […]

Does it seem to you as if there are more and more vulnerabilities being disclosed lately? Youre right, there are. Jeff Jones, a strategy director in the Microsoft Security Technology Unit (“the team trying to make all Microsoft products more secure,” according to Jones), wrote a blog entry recently about data he tracks on vulnerability […]

Security is security, but business is business I guess. It wasnt worth it to Microsoft to stick to its positions on PatchGuard and the Windows Security Center. The details arent in yet, but based on Microsofts vague initial statements it appears that the company has essentially acceded to Symantecs position on PatchGuard and is trying […]

Every time a new version of Windows comes out we dance the same dance about adoption rates. Microsoft promises large benefits to its enterprise customers. ISVs gear up support. Advocates for alternative operating systems talk about how this will be the version that gives them their foot in the door. With Vista its basically the […]

Everybody complains about phishing, but how many of us actually do something about it? Now everyone can. PhishTank, a new service from the OpenDNS folks, is an open and public phishing database. It finds itself up against several large and wealthy commercial products and services. PhishTank may prove to be a quixotic endeavor, but someones […]

Its not easy being Microsoft. Not that you should feel sorry for the company, at least not usually. But it is often put in impossible positions, as McAfee and Symantec are doing now. The two companies are arguing, mostly in European papers in order to influence antitrust policy in the European Union, that security design […]