Considerations for Longhorn Account Security?

Most Windows 2000/XP users run as a full administrator, as we are aware. Part
of the problem is that this is default Windows behavior. The booklet that you
can find with 2000 or XP tells the user that he/she should not use an
administrator account for day-to-day tasks, outlines how to create a new
account and change the group, and also outlines the different group types.
But hardly anyone reads that bit of useful information, so that would be in
part the user's fault. The other part being Microsoft's and it's being buried
in there.

Think about it: those accounts allow unlimited access. Your average customer
is a curious cat. When these two come together, what happends? His curiosity
kills him (or deletes all his data, his Windows folder, his programs, etc..).

This is how I feel, and hope it will reach the Longhorn developers (please
forward if you have connections!): During setup, FOR ALL FLAVORS of the OS,
you need to have the user enter a password for the Administrator account. I
think it was a mistake to leave it out of XP Home Edition. You need input
protection so that the user cannot enter a blank password. From there, you
need to inform the customer on basic security principals (such as not running
executables from unknown sources) and you need to inform the user right there
(in setup) on the types of accounts, and the recommended one being either a
Power User or User.

I can't promise it'll stop all viruses or spyware, but it will put one heck
of a dent in their operations.

Steven
Tue Apr 26 20:12:32 CDT 2005

Microsoft has taken security very seriously in the last couple of years.
Does that mean security will be perfect in the future - of course not.
Security certainly will be very important in Longhorn. Windows 2003 for
example installs in much more secure state. It strongly recommends that you
use a complex password when you install it and services that used to be
installed automatically are not anymore such as IIS. XP will allow a blank
password but by default a user account with a blank password can not be used
to access network shares. I give Microsoft a lot of credit for SP2 which
increases security quite a bit with much better security for RPC and
Internet Explorer and a better Windows Firewall that is enabled by default.
The Windows Security Center was devised as a way to simplify security
configuration for users. For the consumer market security versus
convenience is much harder to balance. If everything is locked down too much
then reports will be out that the operating system is "broken" and nothing
works.

Unfortunately Microsoft can only do so much with the most evasive part of
security equation - the end users. You can make all the recommendations you
want but most users still will not follow them either ignoring the advice or
failing to read it. Fortunately security can be enforced upon end users in
an Active Directory domain. All new car user manuals warn you to drive
safely and obey traffic laws yet over 40,000 people a year get killed in car
accidents no matter how many safety devices they think of. --- Steve


"redxii" <redxii@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:26012971-4731-42C2-A7DC-EC187255B8B3@microsoft.com...
> Most Windows 2000/XP users run as a full administrator, as we are aware.
> Part
> of the problem is that this is default Windows behavior. The booklet that
> you
> can find with 2000 or XP tells the user that he/she should not use an
> administrator account for day-to-day tasks, outlines how to create a new
> account and change the group, and also outlines the different group types.
> But hardly anyone reads that bit of useful information, so that would be
> in
> part the user's fault. The other part being Microsoft's and it's being
> buried
> in there.
>
> Think about it: those accounts allow unlimited access. Your average
> customer
> is a curious cat. When these two come together, what happends? His
> curiosity
> kills him (or deletes all his data, his Windows folder, his programs,
> etc..).
>
> This is how I feel, and hope it will reach the Longhorn developers (please
> forward if you have connections!): During setup, FOR ALL FLAVORS of the
> OS,
> you need to have the user enter a password for the Administrator account.
> I
> think it was a mistake to leave it out of XP Home Edition. You need input
> protection so that the user cannot enter a blank password. From there, you
> need to inform the customer on basic security principals (such as not
> running
> executables from unknown sources) and you need to inform the user right
> there
> (in setup) on the types of accounts, and the recommended one being either
> a
> Power User or User.
>
> I can't promise it'll stop all viruses or spyware, but it will put one
> heck
> of a dent in their operations.