Symantec Internet Security Threat Report - Trends for January 06 - June 06, Volume X, Published September 2006, while presenting a general perspective over the threat ecosystem, also focuses
on more intimate aspects of the security landscape. In this context, the security company has taken into consideration the upcoming Windows Vista, and as its face-off with Microsoft is evolving into the seed of future monopoly accusations, Symantec's forecast for the Redmond Company's operating system makes reference to the introduction of a new level of threats.
"Research to date has shown increased risk in some of the new technologies, such as the new Vista network stack, while others can still be disabled or bypassed by attackers, such as driver signing and PatchGuard. Symantec speculates that the new features and changes to Windows Vista's code base, in conjunction with increased scrutiny from security researchers and malicious code authors, will result in previously unseen attacks," stated the report.
Moreover, according to Symantec, Windows Vista should be introduced into non-critical environments, as part of larger scale operating system upgrades. "Based on currently available research, Symantec suggests that until its public release, Windows Vista should be deployed only in an isolated lab environment," said Symantec's report. Preemptive and mitigation actions need to follow the implementation of Vista at every step, in order to prevent potential attacks.
"Symantec expects to see a concerted effort by the research community to discover and document shortcomings in Windows Vista as attackers attempt to circumvent these new technologies. If successfully implemented, these new technologies may play a role in decreasing the overall volume of malicious code threats affecting the Windows platform. However, it is not yet clear to what degree they will succeed," reads the report.
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