Kaspersky: Windows Vista Won’t Change Security Concerns

Windows Vista’s arrival will not thaw Microsoft’s security misery, the CEO of Russian security company Kaspersky Lab has said in a chilly broadside against the software giant.

According to Natalya Kaspersky, the reason is pretty simple: Microsoft’s software has rarely been secure enough in the past, and there is little to indicate it would be much better in the future.

In a carefully worded but occasionally bludgeoning assault on the security ambitions of her larger U.S. rival, Kaspersky said she has seen nothing to suggest that Microsoft would be able to dominate the antimalware market with the same ease as it has been able to see off its operating system enemies. The tolerances are simply too small for a company that has already gained such a second-rate reputation for the security of its software, she said.

“Microsoft still does not have a good reputation in this area. By default, Microsoft solutions are perceived as being insecure or full of security loopholes,” she said in the sarcastically titled “Security from Microsoft—the door to a brave new world?”

“Given this, I am afraid that Microsoft’s new antivirus solutions may suffer the same fate; virus writers will create malware that is designed primarily to evade detection by OneCare,” she said of Microsoft’s recent antivirus subscription service.

As attacks go, this is about as close to hurling a metaphoric vial of Polonium 210 as it gets from the normally precise and measured Kaspersky. “It is claimed that [Microsoft’s] OneCare integrates better with the operating system. This is supposedly because OneCare utilizes undocumented possibilities in Vista, whereas independent vendors are unable to do this. In fact, this is a myth.”

The company was not geared up to respond to changes of the security threat landscape as quickly as its more nimble rivals. The detection rate of OneCare was also rated as lower than average by one independent test.

“I will risk making the following prediction,” continued Kaspersky. “Microsoft’s antivirus will improve its detection rates and take its place among its competitors. OneCare will offer good user features (something Microsoft has always been good at). However, OneCare is unlikely to become a leader either in terms of response time to new threats or in terms of detection rates.”

Kaspersky’s confidence in going on the record about its U.S. rival is well-founded in one important respect: A company based in Russia is in the right place to divine the nature of Internet crime, so much of which now originates in the countries of the former Soviet Union and its erstwhile allies.

-John E. Dunn, Techworld.com (London)

Related Links:

• Microsoft Windows Vista: The OS Has Landed

• Kaspersky Lab: Malware Quality Down, Quantity Up

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