Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity
    • PC Hardware

    Report: Security Drives Vista Adoption

    By
    Lisa Vaas
    -
    May 23, 2007
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      In a recent report on enterprise security, the top reason survey respondents gave for adopting Windows Vista was that the new operating system is perceived as being more secure.

      The “Fourth Annual Enterprise Security Survey” was commissioned by secure-file-transfer software maker VanDyke Software and conducted by independent research firm Amplitude Research.

      According to the report, 52.3 percent of security-motivated Vista adopters are specifically interested in the improved firewall and anti-spyware functions in Microsofts latest operating system.

      And in spite of the bad rap Microsofts UAC (User Account Control) has gotten from security researchers, another 14.28 percent of Vista adopters cite limited user accounts as their biggest reason for migrating.

      /zimages/5/28571.gifFor advice on how to secure your network and applications, as well as the latest security news, visit Ziff Davis Internets Security IT Hub.

      UAC is based on the concept of LUP (least user privilege), which limits PC users account privileges during normal use. User rights are elevated only when necessary to perform certain administrative tasks. These limitations are intended to reduce Vistas vulnerability to attacks that make use of higher user privileges.

      Microsoft touted UAC as a significant security improvement that signified that the company had gotten serious about securing Windows. Researchers such as Joanna Rutkowska and Symantec Research Scientist Ollie Whitehouse found that users can be tricked into allowing inappropriate rights escalation, however.

      After Rutkowskas blog post on the subject, followed by a paper from Whitehouse titled “An Example of Why UAC Prompts in Vista Cant Always Be Trusted,” Microsoft confirmed that UAC is vulnerable to social engineering attacks, as it is not itself a hardened security boundary like a firewall, but is more of a security “function.”

      Oliver Friedrichs, a director at Symantec Security Response, in Cupertino, Calif., said the perception of UAC as a security boundary persists. “That perception has become fairly well-ingrained, even given the fact that Microsoft has come out and said UAC isnt a security boundary,” he said in an interview with eWEEK.

      If Vista users continue to use the operating system as early adopters are doing, there will be no additional exposure to system compromise, Friedrichs said. Overconfidence in Vistas security technology may put users at risk, however, he said.

      Overall, Vista is indeed a more secure operating system, Friedrichs said. He pointed to core technologies that are responsible for this security boost, including ASLR (address space layout randomization)—a technology designed to make it harder for an attacker to figure out addresses of critical functions and hence harder to get exploits running correctly; safe structure exception handlers; and a new heap manager that is more secure from a dynamic memory allocation perspective, with its newly hardened resistance to certain types of heap usage attacks.

      Vistas attack exposure remains, for the most part, in third-party applications, Web applications and other areas where attackers are largely focusing their efforts at this time, Friedrichs said.

      But despite these improvements, Vista is not devoid of flaws. The .ANI vulnerability, which Microsoft patched early in April, occurred in the way Windows, including Vista, handled cursor, animated cursor and icon formats. That particular vulnerability was so critical that it caused one of only three instances wherein Microsoft has patched outside of its Patch Tuesday cycle.

      Of the 217 Vista users surveyed for the report, the other reasons they gave for adopting the operating system were improved usability, given by 22.11 percent, and “other,” given by 11.05 percent of respondents.

      Other relevant Vista-related findings from the report were that out of 300 individuals surveyed, 6.66 percent have finished testing Vista, 44 percent are currently testing, 18.33 percent are waiting for Service Pack 1 before testing and 31 percent arent testing.

      When asked if their organizations planned to deploy Vista, 19 percent of those 300 said their organizations planned to deploy after testing the official release. Twenty percent said their organizations would deploy Vista after SP1 is released, 19 percent said Vista would be deployed but only on new PCs with Vista preinstalled, and 42 percent said their organizations didnt plan to deploy Vista at this time.

      Check out eWEEK.coms Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEKs Security Watch blog.

      Lisa Vaas
      Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Careers

      SThree’s Sunny Ackerman on Tech Hiring Trends

      James Maguire - June 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Sunny Ackerman, President/Americas for tech recruiter SThree, about the tight labor market in the tech sector, and much needed efforts to...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×