Corporate IT security departments risk being caught in a
row that could limit the security of the new Windows Vista
operating system, as Microsoft and leading security suppliers
engage in a bitter war of words about its security
features.
Anti-virus suppliers McAfee and Symantec have accused Microsoft
of withholding technical information about the system, effectively
blocking the development of security products such as intrusion
detection systems that need access to the Windows kernel.
But Ben Fathi, vice-president of Microsoft's security technology
unit, said the suppliers were spreading "fear, uncertainty and
doubt" about a new technology that is essential to ensure the
stability of Windows.
The company is also saying that leading anti-virus suppliers are
blocking the firm's attempts to improve the "baseline security" of
Windows Vista by refusing to integrate their products into the new
operating system.
The row threatens to leave IT departments in the lurch by
limiting both the security of the new operating system when it is
released next year, and the capability of third-party security
products.
"I do not think any of us can know what impact this will have.
It comes down to whether Microsoft is right or not. The market
needs a product that is adequately secure out of the box," said Jay
Heiser, research vice-president at analyst firm Gartner.
Senior managers at anti-virus company, McAfee made their
complaints about Microsoft public this week, after what they claim
are its repeated refusals to share key information about the
operating system.
Mike Dalton, vice-president for Europe at McAfee, claimed
Microsoft had barred third-party security products from accessing
the Windows kernel. "We cannot see into the kernel, therefore our
heuristics scanning will not function as well as it should. They
are removing a considerable level of security that helps prevent
zero day attacks."
Symantec has also joined the row, saying customers will lose the
ability to choose what security products they run and be forced to
use only those offered by Microsoft.
The dispute centres on the Windows patchlink feature in the
64-bit version of Windows Vista, introduced to prevent malware from
rewriting the kernel software. Microsoft has acknowledged that the
feature also restricts the capability of some third-party products,
such as intrusion protection systems.
The Windows Security Center, which is meant to give users a view
of the security status of their machines, is also provoking a
dispute.
But Fathi said if Microsoft did not stick to its guns, "Five
years from now we are going to be in the same position as we are in
today. We are going to have stability issues because there is
unsupported random change being made to the kernel."
He claimed that McAfee and other anti-virus companies were
deliberately refusing to integrate their products into the security
centre, because they did not want to give customers the opportunity
to download rival anti-virus products.