Microsoft, Industry Make Progress Defending Against Online ThreatsToday at the Black Hat USA 2009 conference, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the progress of its information-sharing programs, providing insight into the positive impact the growing trend of community-based defense is having on the broader security ecosystem. In addition, in an effort to help improve customers’ risk analysis and security update management processes, the company introduced new tools and guidance designed to help security professionals around the world better manage online threats. In an effort to help shift advantage to the security industry, Microsoft created the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), Microsoft Exploitability Index and Microsoft Vulnerability Research (MSVR) programs, announced at Black Hat last year. The MAPP and MSVR programs increase the level of industry collaboration, and the Exploitability Index builds on this collaboration and provides additional information and guidance on managing risk to Microsoft customers. In a new report, “Building a Safer, More Trusted Internet through Information Sharing,” Microsoft outlines how through these programs, customers and partners are better able to evaluate risk and have more access to countermeasures to help combat cyber threats. The programs have helped the industry work together to anticipate, respond to and help protect against online threats by doing the following: • Protecting more global customers. As of July 2009, 47 global partners have joined MAPP since the program’s launch. As a result, customers are better protected from threats more quickly. The number of customers helped by partner protections ranges from the tens of thousands for smaller specialist companies to hundreds of millions for mass-market vendors. • Decreasing the attack window. In the race between exploit and protection, information shared through MAPP is helping decrease the risk of attack. For example, Sourcefire Inc. indicates that before MAPP, it took around eight hours to reverse-engineer, develop proof-of-concept (PoC) code and then build the exploit detection for a vulnerability. With MAPP, the process for Sourcefire takes about two hours, which is a 75 percent decrease. “Our relationship with Microsoft through MAPP gives us the ability to deploy quality protections as soon as the Microsoft security bulletins are made public,” said Jason Avery, security analyst with TippingPoint Technologies Inc. “The vulnerability information we receive through MAPP allows us to keep our Intrusion Prevention System filters as current as possible, helping ensure our customers get the best protection against malicious exploits.” Continue at MS Presspass
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