Keith Combs' Blahg

Blitzkrieg of security offerings coming. Confused?

Most people are probably familiar with the military term, Blitzkrieg.  According to Wikipedia, it means “lightning war”.  Of course I’m not talking about previous military wars but instead I am referring to the war against viruses, worms and other malicious exploits in the various operating systems and web browsers on this planet.  Well, let the Microsoft blitzkrieg begin.

This week, Microsoft announced a number of changes to the product lines we have coming that will combat the bad guys.  Unfortunately, with the number of announcements and tools it can get confusing on what you’ll get, when you’ll get it, and how much it will cost.  The good news is that some of my favorite tools will be free.

Branding

Personally, I’d consolidate all of the tools into one brand.  I’m not sure what the brand would be.  What do you think?  The “Security Center” in Windows XP is pretty straight forward but catchy it ain't.  I like the Windows Defender name.  It’s catchy and conveys a sense of proactive spirit.  How about Microsoft Nuke?  Ok, maybe not.  I’m sure that we’ll eventually do some consolidation in this space.  It would seem that Windows Defender and Windows Defender Professional or Windows Defender Enterprise might work.  If you are a home user, download Windows Defender for Windows XP.  If you buy one of the home SKUs for Windows Vista, it comes built in.  If you are a volume licensing customer, you get the central reporting and control of the Pro or Enterprise product.  Keep in mind I’d put all of the security related stuff (Firewall, automatic updates, virus, malware, spyware, root kit detection, etc.) under the brand so that our customers would know where to look for changes to properties and settings.  Maybe the Microsoft Security Center isn’t soo bad after all, eh?  Just brainstorming here…

Where do I get free training?

The answer is of course TechnetBriefings.com.  My team will begin delivering live seminars on all of the security technologies in April.  We’ll clarify the security offerings on the Windows Server System products, Windows XP and Windows Vista client platforms. 

Kai Axford is leading the content development so you know it’ll be stellar.  If you don’t know Kai, he’s a Microsoft Security Specialist and won a Microsoft Chairmans award for his efforts in the security space last year.  He’s also a Greenbay Cheesehead but don’t hold that against him.  Our plan is to cover the server and client products and offerings.  This is likely to include the new ISA Server 2006 stuff, Antigen for Exchange, Futuresoft technologies, etc.  We’ll have a ton of kewl demos so be sure to come to the live event if possible.  Of course you can always see us do webcasts as well.

For more information on the live events we’ll be delivering, see http://www.technetbriefings.com/.  That site has our current seminar descriptions for Windows Server 2003 R2 and Exchange Server 2003 SP2.  We’ll update it soon with the Q4 content outlines and abstracts.

Where should I look now?

In the meantime, lets take a look at some of the offerings that got announced or updated.  It would be prudent to look at the matrix of offerings so we can compare features.  You’ll notice on this chart that Windows Defender doesn’t do virus protection or removal.  I would change that.  If you want virus protection and/or removal, we’ll have the Windows Onecare Live and the Windows Live Safety Center.  The Onecare Live service will be a more robust service offering scheduled scans, backups, tune-ups and added protections.  See the OneCare Live press release on pricing and the promotions running through the end of April.

Most of you are familiar with the Malicious Software Removal Tool.  It’s been around for a while and of course has been updated several times via the Microsoft Update servers.  You could of course run it right now.  Good doggie.

On the business side of the offerings, you’ll see the Microsoft Client Protection programs.  Like many of the goodies above, it is also in beta testing.  If you want to signup for the beta, go here.  There is a nice little FAQ on the site but unfortunately, pricing and licensing has not been announced.  Stay tuned for that.

Summary

As you can see, Microsoft continues to invest in a number of technologies and services to combat the bad guys.  Our army of products and services are coming.  It’s a full on blitz and by the looks of things, calendar year 2006 is going to be good for consumers. 

I’ll do some demos soon on these technologies and by all means let me know if you have any questions.  If you are in the southern states, come see me at one of my events.  Otherwise, keep your eyes on this blog and webcasts I deliver.