REDMOND, WA. ? Microsoft Corp. will roll out a beta version of its service pack update for Windows Rights Management Services soon, along with its Security Bulletin Advanced Notification program, a top Microsoft executive said Thursday.
Rich Kaplan, corporate vice president of Microsoft?s Security Business & Technology Unit, said at the RSA Conference Europe 2004, said Microsoft is enjoying success with its campaign to increase IT security for customers of its products worldwide.
“Customers worldwide, both at home and at work, have told us that they need help minimizing the risk of malicious threats, and we believe this calls for the global IT community to band together to address these needs,” Kaplan told CNET.Com.
Last month, Microsoft announced a new partnership with networking giant Cisco Systems, under which the two bellwether technology companies promised to collaborate in an effort to make their respective security architectures more interoperable. The companies believe their efforts will result in fewer viruses showing up on corporate networks because of attacks on their products.
Security threats aimed directly at Microsoft products are common.
Earlier this week, ScanSafe reported that an exploit targeting the software maker’s Internet Explorer Web browser represented the highest number of hacking attacks in the second quarter. The London-based security company said that the top hack during that time frame was Exploit.HTML.Mht, which attempts to download and install a malicious program on a computer by using a security breach in IE. The exploit was used to target almost twice as many victims as other exploits, ScanSafe said.
One of the most closely watched elements of Microsoft’s security push is its Rights Management Services package, which aims to protect digital technology, such as Web content, documents and e-mail. Microsoft has created an e-mail address for use by companies seeking access to the beta version of the upcoming service pack.
Among the security benefits the company is pledging with the release are improved user authentication tools via the increased use of smart cards. The company said the update will offer the ability to more easily manage user accounts through the group settings in its Active Directory service pack release, which is currently scheduled to arrive during the first half of 2005.
