Microsoft's Security Strategy

IT

Publication Date	September 2009
Publisher	Ovum
Product Type	Report
Pages	24
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	OVM00968

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Summary

Microsoft is the largest software vendor, but most people still do not think of it as a security vendor. Attitudes need to change. Its 'Trustworthy Computing' initiative has transformed its business, and it now has a massive security-related operation. The company's security products business is only part of its security activity, but the product portfolio is large and growing. Trustworthy Computing is kept separate from the security products business. Even the restriction of Microsoft products only being relevant in Windows environments is fading as Microsoft takes leadership across the industry.

Content

Executive summary
In a nutshell
The Ovum view
Key messages
Internet threats jeopardise the Microsoft brand
The IT security industry depends on Microsoft
A mainstream security vendor
Emerging from its proprietary cocoon
Security delivery is disjointed
The security sector faces market disruption
A holistic view of security
Microsoft's response to security threats
The overall security strategy
Delivering secure products
'Defense in Depth'
Law enforcement
Delivering security products
The burden of leadership
Dominance brings de facto obligations
Keeping abreast of the attackers
Working with national security agencies
Protecting critical national infrastructure
Treading the fine line around monopolistic practices
Security, identity, access and privacy
Recognising the synergies
Security
Identity
The purpose of the 'Laws of Identity'
Claims-based identity and access control
Legal liability
Privacy
Collaboration with other vendors
Microsoft collaborates at the process level
SafeCode
ICASI
MSRC
Exploitability Index
MAPP
Gathering security information
Product partnerships
Open source projects in identity interoperability
From Trustworthy Computing to security vendor
The role of Trustworthy Computing in Microsoft
Patching and vulnerability remediation
Patching is here to stay
Establishing order out of patching chaos
Deploying patches
Applications are becoming more vulnerable than the operating system
Windows Server 2008 R2
Additional 64-bit protection
Windows 7
Identity and access product strategy
Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010
Microsoft Identity Integration Server
Intelligent Application Gateway
Extending Active Directory Federation Services
The identity meta-system
Federated identity
Extending identity federation to B2C environments
CardSpace
Corporate identity
OpenID
Security products
Forefront
Forefront Protection Manager
Free software
Microsoft Security Essentials
List of Figures
- Figure 1: Computers cleaned per 1,000 examined in 2H08, for each operating system