Gates Outlines Future Security Vision

Deviating from his typical keynote speech filled with product announcements, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates used his RSA Conference keynote in Feb. 2006 to describe a security vision and strategy centered around four goals: proper identification of people, devices, and code; engineering security into products from inception; making security features easier to use; and building confidentiality, integrity, availability, and accountability into computing platforms. Gates also stated that his vision will require industry cooperation and will take several years to deliver.

A Security Vision and Strategy

Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative, announced four years ago, has focused on improving the security of Microsoft’s products and services through tactics such as internal security reviews of products, building an infrastructure to distribute patches to fix bugs and vulnerabilities in a timely manner, and entering the security utility software market. More confident that its products and services are secure, Microsoft is now trying to remove some of the fear that past attacks have engendered in the computing community, a fear that has made people cautious about using their computers and the Internet. As Gates said in his speech, “Our vision for security is to create a world where there is greater trust-where people and organizations can use a range of devices to be more reliably and securely connected to the information, services and people that matter most to them.” According to Gates, accomplishing this vision will require the following: