In an effort to keep its customers secure following the recent Windows source code leaks, Microsoft has turned to the lessons it learned while taking a two month hiatus in early 2002 to clean house and eliminate insecure code from Windows. While Redmond's Trustworthy Computing initiative -- which sparked the code review -- marked a watershed event in Microsoft's history, the underlying bits of Windows that leaked onto the Web late last week predate this effort, and underwent review by way of the more porous quality control measures that were in practice at the time.
Microsoft engineers are busy making the most of knowledge gained by that experience, and are performing a security audit on the wayward Windows source code materials using today's security processes. "This code did go through the quality control process of its day before its release, which was a number of years ago. Since then, there have been numerous improvements in the security process, and code has continually been reviewed and updated for security," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews. "In this case, in order to help ensure our customers are not impacted by the release of this source code, we are reviewing it again." If necessary, the company will patch supported legacy versions of its software, including older builds of Internet Explorer, but encourages users to upgrade and follow the measures outlined at its Protect Your PC Web site.
News source: BetaNews
