The Developer Implications of Windows XP SP2

["Michael Howard" <mikehow () microsoft com>]

Moving forward, Microsoft intends to reduce the attack surface of its
products, such as turning less-often used features off, running more
code in lower privilege, closing network ports and adding more defensive
layers. However, this _may_ cause some applications to fail or behave
inconsistently, but customers have told us they want us to reduce the
attack surface of our products as it is easier to deal with potential
application issues than potential security issues.

Windows XP Service Pack 2, currently in development, substantially
reduces the OS attack surface and we feel it's important that Windows
developers are aware of some of the upcoming changes so they can
determine if their applications are affected.

Please take a look at _Windows XP Service Pack 2: A Developer's View_ at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/securityinxpsp2.asp
for further information.

Cheers, Michael

[Writing Secure Code 2nd Edition]
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5957.asp
[Protect Your PC] http://www.microsoft.com/protect
[Blog] http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/mikehow