It's official: don't expect Microsoft to completely protect your network.

We've all been part of the biggest beta test the world has ever known--Windows. Microsoft will not solve all of the security problems, no matter what the richest man in the world says," said Gartner vice president Victor Wheatman in a keynote speech at Gartner's IT Security Summit on Monday.

Wheatman kicked off the conference saying that removing faulty software during operation was costing firms up to 5 percent more than finding flaws during quality assurance tests.

"One of the problems is that there are maybe only 500 software engineers in the world who can burrow around in that code to find the problem. That's something the industry needs to look at," he said.

But Wheatman had some good news for users--he said that the level of spam was dropping, contrary to various anti-spam vendor surveys.

"Spam seems to be in decline. The level of spam has drooped to a point where we can actually do our work now," he said. Wheatman also used his speech to attack the media for what he said was hyping-up the threat of cyberattacks.

"People who hype up cyberterrorism, spam and phishing are creating more fear, uncertainty and doubt than is necessary," he said.

Board-level members will also require more information on how security is benefiting the firm, he said: "We will see more pressure put on IT security. Boards are going to want to see more information on securing the network to demonstrate the financial value of security."

Wheatman also called for security specialists to ditch their intrusion detection systems in favor of intrusion prevention technologies. He said that other technologies that firms could drop included biometrics, digital rights management and personal digital signatures. Instead they should shift investment into host-based intrusion prevention systems, vulnerability management and advanced encryption protocols.

More than 700 security professionals gathered at the conference in London today.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5374254.html

the biggest problem of windows are the users in front of the PC ... I never do have any viruses except MS Blaster, but that was my fault since I installed SP2 beta preventing me from updating the normal SP1 fixes
why ? because I use windows carefully ...
most ppl. don't udnerstand shit of PC ... sitting many time in front of the PC does not automatically mean u are good ....
I see that on work ... I see the person clickin 2 times on check mail ... or 2 times on print ... then wondering why web.de is giving a password error --> 1check every 15 min ... or WTF is the printer printing it 2 times
WHAT THE FUCK IS WINDOWS DOING ?

don't need to say more here ...

so linux is "more secure" sicne the users using linux are a totally different group of people ... they got at least basic knowledge of the PC
as any REAL linux professional will tell you ... an misconfigured Linux is as unsecure as any other misconfigured one ...
and if you do not update regular you will be wide open, too ......

its the same with any other thing you do ... next to PC ... if you kick anything with your feet on street before locking at it you will sometime try to kick a 20kg stone *autsch*

if I open any mail ... klick any damn link ... enter OK when I am asked ... and so on .... what the heck should MS or any other firm do against this ????

when a friend is sending a file to me saying ... HEY I am unable to open it ... it always give an error ...
and I see that word Icon on a .exe file I start my AV scan it and see ... hmmmmm OK delete .... but he started it ... yeah SHARE ALL INFORMATION ... OMG ...

nuff said