Bypassing Kernel Patch Protection Is Nonnegotiable

From Microsoft's perspective, the security industry is at a crossroads in an ever evolving threat landscape. Microsoft Security Technology Unit Corporate Vice President Ben Fathi revealed this in his keynote at the RSA Conference Europe 2006. Building a trust ecosystem through investments in innovation is a proactive approach to the issue at hand. Fathi underlined Windows Vista as a nucleus in the advancement of security.

"As threats continue to evolve and computing advances, we need an environment that engenders trust and accountability," Fathi said. "To help protect customers and ensure the long-term success of the computing ecosystem, the industry must embrace change and innovation."

With this in mind, Fathi also highlighted Microsoft's next steps toward constructing a trust ecosystem and a safe heaven with Vista at its basis: the Microsoft Certificate Lifecycle Manager beta 2, Windows Defender, and the Sender ID Framework under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise (OSP).

As 64-bit processors will be the building blocks of the evolving PC computing architecture, Windows Vista 64-bit edition will come into focus of the security industry. "Fathi reaffirmed Microsoft's commitment to continuing to work with security partners to provide the kernel functionality they need, beyond what is available today in Windows XP and Windows Vista, without bypassing Kernel Patch Protection," revealed Microsoft in a press release.

Since bypassing Kernel Patch Protection is nonnegotiable - although Microsoft has agreed to cooperate - it is still a case of the security industry adapting to a product, as the Redmond Company continues to applaud the technology introduced to the kernel of 64-bit operating system. "Kernel Patch Protection raises the bar for security and also provides a significant opportunity for the security industry to extend this work by designing next-generation security solutions," added Microsoft.