Microsoft has recast the specification of its future
security architecture as a result of user concerns about software
compatibility.
Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), formerly known as
Palladium, is a security architecture that uses hardware and
software to isolate software from malicious code.
When it was proposed two years ago, Microsoft said software
suppliers and users would have to rework applications to support
NGSCB, but Stuart Okin, chief security officer at Microsoft, said,
"Customers did not want to rewrite applications."
Originally proposed as a service that applications could use to run
highly secure code, Microsoft now plans to use NGSCB to secure any
application running on Longhorn, the next version of Windows.
Microsoft is reworking NGSCB to protect applications that run in
virtual machines on the Longhorn operating system. "People have
said they want [NGSCB] entirely in the operating system to allow
secure virtual machines. NGSCB will be a cornerstone of Longhorn,"
Okin said.
With the new specification, any application that failed would leave
other applications running in their own virtual machines
unaffected.
Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds said, "The NGSCB capability will
now be potentially far more accessible to applications without
modification."