As an IT professional, security and security related issues such as patches, updates, and vulnerabilities are top of mind. Keeping data safe and systems up to date can be a daunting task. The security landscape is very different today than it was a few years ago. Today there are dedicated criminals who are well resourced and constantly looking for a way to exploit you and your users’ data and information. Social engineering attacks are increasingly becoming a strong money making industry and botnets have become the key launch pad for this criminal activity. I remember back when attackers wanted to take the internet and systems down. Today, it’s just the opposite. They want to keep the internet up so they can remotely control your computer, your data, and personal information.
Email and web are the most attacked vectors and computer users worldwide utilize these daily. Microsoft, through its security response and update process, helps you stay ahead of the attackers with information it leverages via security intelligence from over 600 million systems worldwide. This is done to keep customer environments protected from the changing threat landscape. It’s why we support our business and developer products for 10 years after product release, and consumer, hardware, and multimedia products for 5 years after product release. The entire process, from the Security Development Lifecycle, to the security update process, is in the box when you buy a Microsoft product or service.
No one company, technology or industry can do it alone. Microsoft has founded a unique, community based program, the Microsoft Active Protection Program (MAPP). MAPP is made up of over 70 security partners, protecting an estimated 1 billion customers, who share repros, proof of concept code, and community based response. It’s like being part of a good neighbor club. Members of MAPP receive security update information from the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) in advance of Microsoft’s monthly security update release. When MAPP partners receive this information, they can provide updated protections to customers via their security software or devices, such as antivirus, network-based intrusion detection systems, or host-based intrusion prevention systems.
Before the launch of MAPP, security software providers had to wait until the public release of a security update before building protections. With MAPP, security software providers receive data before updates are released and can deliver protection features to customers faster. In fact, MAPP partners have told us that the data they get through the program allows them to develop and deploy protections up to 75% faster.
For more information about how MAPP partners build enhanced protections that better protect customers, read the white paper "Building a Safer, More Trusted Internet through Information Sharing".
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