MS mulls external testing for security patches

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/30464.html

By John Leyden
Posted: 30/04/2003

Microsoft is considering an external testing programme to improve the
quality of its security patches.

Difficulty in applying patches and instances where fixes fail to work
properly - or cause unfortunate side effects - have long been an issue
in Microsoft shops.

Craig Fiebig, general manager of the Secure Business Unit at
Microsoft, acknowledges this is an issue and outlined some of the
steps Microsoft is taking to address the problem in the next phase of
its Trustworthy Computing push.

"We need to think of the release of a patch in the same way we would
the release of a product. There needs to be broader testing," Fiebig
said, at the Infosecurity conference in London yesterday.

Particularly when vulnerabilities are actively been exploited,
software vendors are under pressure to release fixes quickly - and
this works against comprehensive testing.

Fiebig concedes this point and said Microsoft "had to be mindful" of
the quality impact of the patches it produced.

"There's a trade off and we need to be careful how we do this. Once a
vulnerability comes to light the clock starts ticking," he said.

"First you have to apply a triage system, to access the impact of a
vulnerability. You need to produce a patch and then test it. Greater
testing needs to take place. Microsoft is considering introducing
external testing with key customers."

Trustworthy Computing - next steps

Fiebel's comments reinforce a presentation by Mike Nash, MS corporate
security veep, at the RSA Conference in California this month (see
story) [1].

Security tax

Microsoft is working towards lowering the total cost of ownership for
achieving secure systems, Fiebel said:  "Users shouldn't be taxed for
achieving security."

Microsoft can reduce security overheads by making sure products ship
with fewer vulnerabilities, simplifying patch management and reducing
the amount of downtime needed to apply security fixes. This focus on
security will not come at the expense of that favourits MS buzz-word -
innovation - Fiebig claims.

"There will still be innovation, but we have to think about what the
impact will be in terms of security. Security applies to everything we
do at Microsoft: from recruitment and training to what we do with our
products," he said.

For those who doubt Microsoft will ever get close to producing secure
products, Fiebig points to Microsoft's success in redesigning its core
products for the Internet.

Making its infamously flaky code secure is a much bigger challenge for
Microsoft, but there are signs it is making real progress on this
front, even though it has a long way to go.

With Windows Server 2003, Microsoft is beginning to apply secure by
default, by design and deployment ideas. These, together with a
re-architecture of IIS, will, hopefully, guard against repetition of
the Nimda-style outbreaks, on Windows 2003 boxes, at least. According
to Fiebig, by default Windows Server 2003 exposes 60 per cent less
surface area to attack than NT4 SP3.

"If attacked a system will fail gracefully, rather than falling over,"  
he said.

Microsoft also wants to make it easier for developers to build secure
applications.

Visual Studio .NET 2003 includes improved tools to capture buffer
overflows, that perennial source of security vulnerabilities, during
build and run-time.

We're sceptical about the chances that this will get anywhere close to
reducing security-related programming errors to zero, as Microsoft
hopes, but once again this is a step in the right direction.

To simplify security management and operations for its customers,
Microsoft will reduce the number of patch installer technologies used
across the company and offer new security configuration wizards.  
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 1.2, due later this year, is
designed to make it easier for users to identify unpatched systems.

For IT admins, Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) and Systems
Management Server 2.0 Software Update Feature Pack 1 currently help
automate patch installation for the Windows platform.

Later this year, Microsoft will release SUS 2.0, which will include
update functionality for a broader set of Microsoft products. Later
this year, Microsoft will release Systems Management Server 2003,
which will include features such as the ability to automatically
install patches during scheduled downtime.

[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/30261.html



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