RE: Windows Vista current flaws

From: Roger A. Grimes (roger_at_banneretcs.com)
Date: 09/27/05

  • Next message: Lance.Druger_at_wellsfargo.com: "RE: Software Firewalls" 
    Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:33:08 -0400
To: "Jon Lawhead" <samurai@berkeley.edu>, <security-basics@securityfocus.com>

    I'm not sure there is a "right" position on this...only conjecture and
    opinion. Here's mine.

    Vista has several new good security features, that make it a more secure
    platform than XP, not the least of which is IE 7 and Least Privilege
    User accounts. It, no doubt, has new security flaws. But few of them
    will come out before its official release, and of those, none will be
    widely exploited now because the OS isn't popular enough to allow
    Vista-only malware to spread. So, overall,the risk is probably less than
    XP...but it's all conjecture in the end.

    Widely spreading malware is rarely cutting edge. Usually there has to be
    a saturation of the marketplace with the vulnerable software, before the
    risk really increases.

    Roger

    ************************************************************************
    ***
    *Roger A. Grimes, Banneret Computer Security, Consultant
    *CPA, CISSP, MCSE: Security (2000/2003/MVP), CEH, CHFI, TICSA
    *email: roger@banneretcs.com
    *cell: 757-615-3355
    *Author of Honeypots for Windows (Apress)
    *http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=281
    ************************************************************************
    ****

     

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Jon Lawhead [mailto:samurai@berkeley.edu]
    Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 12:01 AM
    To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
    Subject: Windows Vista current flaws

    Greetings all,

    I work in Network Security for UC Berkeley's residence halls. We have a
    list of several "minimum security standards" that we require all
    connected computers to meet before being allowed access to the network
    (stuff like having a firewall program, antivirus, etc). One of the
    standards involves having the latest patched version of a secure
    operating system. I have a user on the network who wishes to run a
    (legitimately acquired, or so he says) version of Windows Vista beta
    version.
     Before I decide on this, I wanted opinions on whether or not this is a
    good idea. My first instinct is to disallow any beta operating systems
    simply on the grounds that they'll be buggy by definition and may
    potentially have serious security flaws, but I can't find anything to
    back this up. Just wondering if I could get a few opinions on whether
    or not this is a good idea. Thanks!

    Jon Lawhead
    Network Security Coordinator
    Residential Computing
    University of California, Berkeley

  • Next message: Lance.Druger_at_wellsfargo.com: "RE: Software Firewalls"

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