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RSA president Art Coviello, gave the opening speech at the event on Monday. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday about whether Microsoft has really improved its approach to security, he claimed that the company was definitely making more effort around the issue.

"Vista is a much more secure operating system than anything that they have brought to the market in the past, and levels of awareness are at an all-time high inside the company," Coviello said.

However, Coviello went onto criticise the way that the security industry has become too reactive and product-focused, which has limited its ability to think strategically and anticipate vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

"We need to get away from this reactive brand of security — reacting to a problem and trying to plug it, rather than thinking about it holistically. Security products have begun to define [how we approach security], rather than standing back and thinking about it holistically," Coviello said.