New Breed of Viruses Designed for Windows Vista (+ Service Pack 1)

Windows Vista has had everything but an easy ride since its introduction in November 2006 and in January 2007, but the worst is yet to come. Microsoft's latest Windows client was plagued with a variety of problems from software and hardware incompatibility to poor performance, reliability and support. The Redmond company is hard at work softening the hard edges of the operating system with Windows Vista Service Pack 1. But at the same time, one of the plagues traditionally associated with the Windows platform stood away from Windows Vista.

Microsoft has applauded Vista as the most secure Windows operating system available on the market, and, in the first year after the product was released to manufacturing, the company has not been far off with its marketing tag. In the first six months of 2007, the Redmond company's own Security Intelligence Report revealed that Vista was holding its ground against malware. This status quo will change in the coming year, predicted security company McAfee.

"Vista joins the party - In 2008, Windows Vista is set to gain additional market share and cross the 10 percent barrier. The release of Service Pack 1 for Vista is also likely to accelerate the adoption of the Microsoft operating system. As Vista becomes more prevalent, attackers and malware authors will start in earnest to explore ways to circumvent the operating system's defenses. There were 19 Vista vulnerabilities reported since its release earlier this year. We can expect a lot more Vista vulnerabilities to be reported in 2008," McAfee revealed.

In McAfee Avert Labs' top 10 security threats for 2008, the security outfit forecasted an increase in web dangers and threats gunning after Windows Vista. Benefiting so far from an obscure position on the operating system market, Windows Vista has fully lived up to its expectations in terms of security. The threat environment, tailored on Windows XP, and previous Windows versions, has been slow in its transition to Vista. 2008 will bring with it not only an explosion of Vista's market share but also of the increase of the volume of threats designed especially for the new operating system.

According to data published by Net Applications, Vista currently owns just a little under 8% of the operating system market, with Windows XP at 79%. But with Microsoft announcing the shipping of in excess of 88 million copies to its channel partners worldwide, and with 100 million on the horizon at the end of 2007, Vista's profile will grow in 2008. Predictions for the operating system's performance in terms of adoption are favorable in the coming year, with the first service pack in the background.

SP1, currently planned for the first quarter of 2008, will be a turning point for the operating system, but at the same time it will signal the debut of a new period where Vista will come in the focus of the threat environment. It remains to be seen if the security mitigations built into the platform, such as Mandatory Diver Signing, User Account Control, Internet Explorer 7 Protect Mode and Kernel Patch Protection will manage to keep Vista on its pedestal of the most secure Windows.

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