REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 18, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. executives today welcomed the U.S. government’s National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, unveiled by Richard Clarke, chairman of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, in Palo Alto, Calif., calling it an important advance toward achieving a technology-critical infrastructure that can withstand attack.
“Computing technology has spurred a remarkable revolution, transforming our lives and allowing us to achieve what was once thought impossible,”
said Craig Mundie, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Microsoft.
“But as we increasingly depend on that technology, we must also help ensure that it is inherently trustworthy, a long-term endeavor that will require broad collaboration. The administration has expended enormous energy to propose a path forward that is founded on the principle of collaboration among government, industry and home users.”
To help foster broad industry collaboration, Microsoft is devoting significant resources to its Trustworthy Computing initiative, which aims to increase the reliability of computing as well as help protect the security and privacy of computer users. Its efforts include working to improve its software development process, helping secure the Microsoft® Windows®
platform, and investing in fundamental long-term research.
Improve Software Development and Help Secure the Windows Platform
Last fall Microsoft embarked on several efforts that aim to improve the software development process and help secure the Windows platform by developing products and services that are
“secure by design, secure by default and secure in deployment.”
These efforts include shipping products in locked-down mode with features turned off, and working to make it easier for consumers and IT professionals to maintain systems through automatic update services that regularly deploy critical patches in managed and unmanaged environments. Microsoft is also working with other industry leaders to develop hardware and software technologies that increase the inherent security of operating system technology.
Long-Term Research and Collaboration
Trustworthy Computing cannot be successfully achieved without long-term research and collaboration. Efforts under way by Microsoft in these areas include the three following:
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Participation in the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) organization, founded by IBM Corp., Microsoft and other industry leaders to enable consistent and reliable interoperability of XML-based Web services across a variety of platforms, applications and programming languages
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Active participation in industry input for the administration’s National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace
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Recent formation of the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Academic Advisory Board to formalize a critical feedback process on security and privacy issues from top academic security researchers
“The goal of Trustworthy Computing may take a decade or more to achieve, but by working together, I have no doubt we can and will succeed,”
Mundie said.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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