We've just had a reorganization in  Microsoft's Server & Tools Business (STB) that combines the engineering and marketing of the Identity team with the Security products team to form the new Identity & Security Division.  We've got a lot of cool products under our new umbrella, including:

• Identity: Identity Lifecycle Manager (beta), Active Directory, Rights Management Services (RMS), Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Windows Cardspace
• Security: Forefront Client Security, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (beta), Forefront Server Security Management Console, Internet Security & Acceleration Server, Intelligent Application Gateway, Forefront Codenamed "Stirling" (beta)

Microsoft is combining the two groups because of the increasing overlap and dependencies of identity and security in a changing IT environment where establishing and security identity is crucial to securing appropriate access, protecting information, and securing vital resources.  

Doug Leland will become the General Manager of the new Identity & Security Division business and marketing group.  Ryan Hamlin,  General Manager heads the overall product development efforts.  The division includes the Forefront portfolio of products, Identity Lifecycle Manager, Rights Management Services, Active Directory, Federated Identity and Windows CardSpace. These changes take effect on July 1, 2008.

More to come in the future...

  Today at the Tech Ed IT Professional Conference, we announced that Forefront Client Security will offer an array of support for Windows Server 2008.  The FCS agent can now provide support for Windows Server, including Server Core, and native integration for Network Access Protection.  A new NAP-FCS integration kit is now available for download here. FCS will also provide support for Hyper-V upon its release. 

• FCS Virtualization Security
  Microsoft will provide support for virtualization with the Forefront line of security products, which includes Forefront Client Security support for Hyper-V upon its release. The FCS agent will be installable on Windows Server 2008 host and virtualized operating systems to protect against malicious threats. The FCS Management Server roles can also be installed on Hyper-V virtualized machines to consolidate management server roles.
  
  And there's more to come. Forefront "Stirling" protection technologies will share and use security information to dynamically respond to threats across physical or virtual environments. For example, if a user's virtual machine is offline and it's brought back online, Stirling will be able to identify that it is out of compliance and automatically trigger remediation. "Stirling" is targeted for release to market in the first half of 2009.
  
  
• NAP-FCS integration Kit
  It's finally here. The NAP-FCS Integration Kit provides customers with health policy enforcement for Forefront Client Security. The kit includes a System Health Agent (SHA) and System Health Validator (SHV) which are key services used to enforce a health policy. In addition to the SHA and SHV, this free kit provides tested guidance to quickly and easily integrate NAP and FCS. The kit will help strengthen defenses against malware by providing a means to enforce a health policy that requires FCS to be installed, functioning, and up-to-date. If this health standard is not met, NAP can deny access to network resources until FCS is updated, remediation occurs, and the client is returned to a healthy state. Get it here now!
  
  
• Windows Server Support
  Starting now, Forefront Client Security Agent as well as the Forefront Client Security Management Console will both support Windows Server 2008. The FCS agent also protects Windows Server Core, as well as supporting Microsoft Cluster Services. Customers can install the FCS agent to protect operating systems that are running Microsoft Clusters Services.

Want more detail?  Visit the Forefront Client Security Blog

Today at the Tech Ed IT Professional Conference, Microsoft announced the availability of the first public beta of Forefront Security for Office Communications Server, the latest addition to the Forefront line of enterprise security products.  Forefront Security for Office Communications Server provides anti-malware scanning, keyword filtering, and file blocking for Office Communications Server 2007, and will be generally available in the second half of 2008.

You can download the beta here.

Forefront Security for Office Communications Server has some nice features, including:

• Multiple anti-malware scanning engines provide better protection: Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server provides enhanced protection against IM-based malware by including multiple scanning engines from industry-leading security partners. As tests we published on this blog last year showed, Multiple scanning engines increase the chances that emerging threats will be quickly caught.
  
  
• Keyword filtering and file blocking reduce liability: Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server helps reduce corporate liability by blocking IM messaging containing inappropriate content, while file and keyword filtering technologies prevent the sharing of out-of-policy files, unauthorized corporate confidential information or offensive language in IM conversations.
  
  
• Integration with Office Communications Server: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server protections are integrated with Microsoft Office Communications Server to provide high performance malware scanning optimized for enterprise instant messaging environments. Forefront Security for Office Communications Server includes automated signature updating, IM notification alerts, and built-in management controls to simplify administration.
  
  
• Integration with multiple server roles: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server integrates with the Access Edge, Director and Front End server roles in Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, as well as the Office Communications Server Standard Edition Server role.
  
  
• Provides protection for federated connections and public IM users: By integrating with Office Communications Server Access Edge, Forefront Security for Office Communications Server ensures that all external communications - including those to and from external public IM clients or federated networks - are secure.
  
  
• Localization: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server will be localized into eleven languages.

Prism Consulting has released a new Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis of desktop anti-malware.  The summary of the 21- page report states:

Value Prism Consulting, a management consulting and financial analysis firm, conducted a survey, measuring TCO changes with eight organizations that switched to Forefront Client Security.  Survey participants estimated an average of $24.00 in savings per desktop based on reduced IT security response time. Although not quantified, significant end-user productivity gains have also been realized by several organizations. Overall, participants experienced 85% fewer security issues after installing the solution. Several of the participating organizations encountered significant IT administration benefits of an additional $7.50 per desktop.  In addition, participants expect significant benefits from Forefront Client Security's unique reporting and control features. Initial investment costs for the companies averaged $16.50 per desktop. These Forefront Client Security deployment costs included deployment effort as well as additional software and hardware costs incurred.

Enterprise users interviewed for the report cited FCS's superior protection as a key reason for the improved TCO:

"We were not well-protected against spyware or malware," said Markus Kleinen, Managing Director at Konnex.  Performance problems were another issue. "The [previous] solution took a lot of time to scan computers, which slowed things down for employees."

Forefront Client Security provides an integrated solution. "As a financial institution, we have a need for machines to be 'well protected' for our own business, as well as for government compliance," said Ken Ong Kok Keng, System Engineer at PhillipCapital, a financial services firm in Singapore. "Forefront Client Security will help protect our desktop PCs from viruses and spyware."  

Companies interviewed experienced significant cost savings in security response management - based on both reduced issues and reduced cost handling for each issue. Right away, customers started seeing improved security - several participants commented on the number of issues undetected by the previous security software that were identified during the first Forefront Client Security scan.

Download the whole report here.

 

Microsoft Forefront Codename "Stirling" Overview (Part 1 of 2) Microsoft Forefront codename "Stirling" is an integrated security system that delivers comprehensive, coordinated protection across endpoints, messaging, and collaboration applications. It also provide the network edge that is easier to manage and control. By delivering simplified management and providing critical visibility into threats, vulnerabilities, and configuration risks, "Stirling" helps you reduce costs and achieve greater insight into your enterprise security state. Attend this session to get an overview of this new security system from Microsoft. Length: 0:19:24 WMA | MP3 High | MP3 Low To save to your computer, right click and choose 'save target as...'.