Microsoft turns up heat on security rivals
Published: 27 Apr 2007 10:25 BST
Microsoft may be a desktop software powerhouse but, when it comes to security tools, it is still bulking up.
The software giant announced this week that it is setting up security response and research operations in Ireland and Japan, and launched a preview of a new online Malware Protection Center. The efforts are meant to make Microsoft, a security industry newcomer, more competitive.
"This is significant. It is part of the globalisation of our research and response effort," Mark Miller, director of communications for security response at Microsoft, said on Wednesday.
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Microsoft is taking on incumbents such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro, the world's top three antivirus companies, to conquer part of the multibillion dollar security market. Industry watchers say Microsoft has done an impressive job building its security organisation, though the scaffolding has yet to come off.
"Microsoft is entering a very competitive market and one that is new to them," said Andreas Marx, an antivirus software specialist at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. "It will take several more months until Microsoft's products can be directly compared with those offered by Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro."
Others think it will take much longer.
"It will take some years, perhaps five, for Microsoft to be up to par," said Andreas Clementi of AV-Comparatives, an organisation that tests antivirus products. "Microsoft's detection rates are still low compared to other products. OneCare today is more of a system utility." Clementi was referring to OneCare's backup and disk clean-up features.
Together with a team in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft's new Europe and Asia research locations will offer round-the-clock coverage of security incidents. Microsoft started selling its Windows Live OneCare consumer antivirus product almost a year ago. Its Forefront Client Security software for businesses is set to ship in the coming weeks.
The security research and response team at Microsoft, as at traditional antivirus providers, investigates and responds to threats. A primary response is developing the "fingerprints" of known threats, called signatures. These are then sent to customers so their machines can be protected against those risks.
Turning irritation into opportunity
Security used to be just something that Microsoft got hammered on, but five years after chairman Bill Gates launched his "Trustworthy Computing" push, Microsoft now sees it as a market it has not previously tapped. Yet, the company recognises that some may balk at what could be seen as Microsoft turning lemons into lemonade.
"Some of our customers view this a little controversially, in a sense that, if we could solve these problems at the root, why is there a need for extra products," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said this week. "We do live in a world in which the bad guys are also getting smarter all the time. It is important to be able to lock the core infrastructure and then protect around it in a way that is a bit more dynamic."
Microsoft first gained antivirus expertise in 2003 when it bought GeCad Software. It has continued to acquire companies…
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