Limited Vista access hurts security effort, McAfee says!

[Dashken]

McAfee Inc. warned Monday that Microsoft Corp.'s move to lock down Windows Vista's technical core could "hamstring" it and other security software vendors by keeping them from accessing a key element of the upcoming operating system.

Microsoft disputed the assertion -- calling the precaution in some advanced Windows Vista versions an important protection against attack. Long term, the Windows core "needs to be tamper-proof," said Stephen Toulouse, senior product manager in Microsoft's Security Technology Unit.

It's the latest in a series of controversies over technologies slated for Windows Vista, the next version of the company's biggest product. Microsoft is aiming to launch in November for businesses and in January for consumers. Rivals want to keep Microsoft from using the dominance of Windows to its advantage in other software markets.

The current situation escalated Monday with a full-page ad placed by McAfee in the London-based Financial Times paper. In an open letter to "computer users around the world," McAfee Chief Executive George Samenuk wrote that security vendors need to access the Windows Vista kernel, as it's known, "to better 'see' threats and deploy defenses against viruses and other attacks."

"Over the years, the most reliable defenders against the many, many vulnerabilities in the Microsoft operating systems have been the independent security companies such as McAfee," he wrote in the open letter. "Yet, if Microsoft succeeds in its latest effort to hamstring these competitors, computers everywhere could be less secure."

In an interview, Samenuk said the company decided to publish the letter after "numerous attempts" to persuade Microsoft to change its position. Security software company Symantec has voiced similar concerns.

Asked what else McAfee might do, he acknowledged that filing a complaint with the European Commission was one alternative, but he said the company has made no decision on that subject. The commission has been looking at Windows Vista for potential antitrust violations.

Microsoft is also beginning to offer its own security software, in competition with McAfee, Symantec and others. But the company is not trying to use Windows to shut out competition, Toulouse said.

"We simply cannot solve the problem of security by ourselves, and it is not our intent to do so," Toulouse said. "Customers have been very clear that they want us to provide a higher level of security in the operating system, but at the same time, to make sure that there is choice available."

Toulouse pointed out that the lockdown will only be in place in versions of Windows Vista for advanced, 64-bit computer processors, as it is with 64-bit versions of Microsoft's Windows XP. Most PCs still use 32-bit processors

He also noted that Microsoft's own security software programs will be prevented from accessing the Vista core in the same way that other programs are. Microsoft also has been working with security vendors to come up with ways to make their programs effective without accessing the Vista kernel, he said.

But John Viega, McAfee chief security architect, called kernel access a key element of the advanced programs the company offers to protect computers. Although the lockdown is limited to 64-bit versions for now, he said he sees the launch of Windows Vista as "the first domino" toward widespread implementation of the approach.

Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine...5_vista03.html