Today at the RSA Conference Europe 2004, Rich Kaplan, corporate vice president of the Security Business & Technology Unit at Microsoft, delivered a keynote address in which he provided an update on Microsoft"s progress in helping improve the security of computers and networks for customers worldwide. Kaplan outlined progress to date in the areas of improving technology quality and innovation, creating opportunity in the security industry, and increasing customer guidance and engagement.
Kaplan announced the forthcoming availability of the Windows® Rights Management Services (RMS) Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta version. Currently RMS SP1 is in beta internally and is due to be released in the first half of 2005.
If you"re interested in the RMS SP1 beta, you should contact rmssp1qa@microsoft.com for complete details.
Kaplan also announced that support for the Windows Security Center in Windows XP SP2 has been "overwhelming". Currently 29 Anti-Virus companies support the new Security Center which monitors essential security functionality such as firewall, Automatic Updates and anti-virus protection. You can see the full list here.
Microsoft is also making its Security Bulletin Advanced Notification program publicly available to provide all customers with advanced, monthly general information on security. Starting in November, Microsoft will publish a general summary of planned security bulletins three business days before each month"s scheduled release date, which will occur on the second Tuesday of the month. The information will be available at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/default.mspx and will include the number of bulletins that may be released, the anticipated severity ratings, and an overview of products that may be affected. Beginning in December, customers can also sign up on that Web site to receive notifications by e-mail.