With all the hacking that’s been reported lately, it is no surprise that Microsoft is taking a very active role in trying to determine security vulnerabilities in order to prevent further hacking successes. Indeed. Hacking is everyone’s concern and Microsoft security researchers have been looking for and finding and then helping to fix security defects in products made by third-party vendors, including the competitors, Apple and Google. While some may say that Microsoft’s attempt to play nice guy in this arena does not undercut the view that they are just looking for a way to deflect criticism of their business practices.
That may be true. Nevertheless, since July last year, Microsoft’s security research team has identified and disclosed 109 different software vulnerabilities affecting a total of 38 vendors. So in August alone, the Research team released advisories showing vulnerabilities in WordPress and Apple’s Safari browser and last month in July they identified software flaws and fixed in both Google Picasa and Facebook.
Auditing Opportunities
How is it possible to find and fix vulnerabilities in 3rd party software? Isn’t the source code protected by proprietary license? Yes, but apparently Microsoft has the go ahead, implicitly or explicitly to study and report its findings on this area. Vendors have responded and have coordinated on 97 percent of all reported vulnerabilities. The stats show that 29 percent of third-party vulnerabilities found since July 2010 have been resolved, and there have not been any observed attacks on the vulnerabilities without updates.
Is Microsoft the defacto vulnerability examiner for 3rd party software? Probably not. Who would want to give up the security examination of the software to some other company? Still, with two companies looking at the software product it is conceivable that vulnerabilities will be discovered sooner, and adjustments be made as well.
In this endeavor when hackers are successful, the more companies that research and supply changes to programs can be welcome.
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