Security Essentials

One of the bigger security stories of the week is the release of Microsoft’s free Security Essentials package which contains anti-spyware and anti-virus functionality. The motivation behind the software seems to be to allow the millions of unprotected PCs in the world to get some basic anti-malware functionality. Microsoft is not well known for its displays of altruism when it comes to software and indeed there is an element of self interest in the move.

The Windows platform has the reputation of being the least secure of modern operating systems. This is at least partly due to the fact that it is the most popular OS by far and hence has the largest number of non technical users ill equipped to secure their PC. This makes Windows an attractive target for malware writers as the chances of a successful exploit are much greater than an attack against for example Linux. Although security awareness is better than it once was, anti malware software either comes at a cost or is free but with excessive marketing blurb to get you to upgrade to a paid for version. Security Essentials is an easy to download and install package which so far at least seems to be very unobtrusive. Hopefully it will encourage owners of non protected systems to improve their security.

Why is this a good thing if your own PC is already well protected? The simple answer is that the millions of compromised PCs in the world affect us all every day as they can be used to distribute SPAM, launch denial of service attacks or act as a platform for other exploits. The lower the numbers of unprotected systems, the lower are the possibilities for exploitation. This is good for Microsoft in that it makes the internet a safer place to do business and could potentially improve the reputation of its software.

Microsoft will not be bundling Security Essentials with future OS releases nor distributing it as a critical update, probably to avoid problems with anti-competition regulation. Neither will it install on pirated copies of Windows. Although these measures are understandable, the effectiveness will no doubt be reduced as many of the PCs in most need of anti-malware software will fail to receive the package.