Symantec: 'Weak Vista from weak core

Security firm Symantec has released a report stating some of the weaknesses in the Windows Vista operating system protection mechanism.

The Symantec report " Evaluating application operating system kernel level security solutions in Windows Vista " said the company has discovered some potential vulnerabilities in Windows Vista. One of the highlights is the weaknesses arising from the integration of a copy protection solution into the operating system - also known as DRM (digital rights management solution).

Source: gamingandtech Symantec's latest report is the final report in a series of Symantec reports on security solutions in Windows Vista. In previous reports, Symantec announced that it had discovered weaknesses in the security and user mode security solution in Vista.

" The OS-level application security updates in Windows Vista are pretty solid. This solution can prevent a lot of attacks ," said Matthew Conover, the report's author. . " However, we have discovered some weaknesses in this solution that could be exploited by malicious software ."

The operating system kernel level security upgrade solution includes a driver authentication tool. This tool prevents all kernel changes, checks kernel mode legality, supports secure start-up with TPM (Trusted Platform Module), blocks user-level access to some areas of operating system.

Another potentially dangerous problem is that there is no mechanism to revoke authentication certificates. This may result in legitimate licenses being stolen and reused. However, Microsoft claims they are developing this mechanism.

Microsoft welcomes Symantec's report. However, the company also confirmed that every weakness in the report was "outdated" because Microsoft fixed these security flaws in the Community Technical Preview version of Windows Vista Build 5365 released last April.

Hoang Dung