Microsoft Releases New Security Update Tools, Programs At Black Hat

Microsoft released an array of new tools and gave guidance Monday designed to help security professionals streamline and improve the security update process and better combat online threats. The tools, released at the Black Hat 2009 Conference in Las Vegas, include the Microsoft Security Update Guide, Project Quant and Microsoft Office Visualization Tool.

The Microsoft Security Update Guide, which is available for download, delineates Microsoft's resources, processes and practices surrounding its security release process. The guide is designed to help IT administrators streamline and improve the security update process by helping them plan for security releases and improve risk evaluation decisions while highlighting other available resources to help customers deploy updates more rapidly and with minimal disruption to their IT environments.

In addition, Microsoft launched Project Quant, an open-community project aimed at providing a comprehensive cost model for patch management.

Specifically, the project is designed to improve processes, minimize expenditures and streamline efficiencies for IT staff, analysts and consultants. The Project Quant report, also available for download, includes a comprehensive description of the update management cycle and provides details for every stage of the update process.

Microsoft also launched Microsoft Office Visualization Tool, a free online tool targeting file format software vulnerabilities and exploits, aimed at tackling increasingly malicious exploits. The new tool, known as OffVis, is aimed at combating file format-based vulnerabilities and exploits. Specifically, the tool allows IT administrators to drill down deeper to obtain a better understanding of Office-based attacks. In turn, IT administrators can create more accurate and comprehensive malware detection signatures.

In addition to the Monday launch, Microsoft reported significant progress on three information-sharing programs and tools launched last year: Microsoft Active Protection Program (MAPP), Microsoft Vulnerability Research Programs (MSVR), and the Microsoft Exploitability Index.

Since it was created July 2008, MAPP, which touts 47 global partners and millions of customers worldwide, has significantly reduced customers' security threat windows and risks of attack by speeding up the time it takes to develop proof-of-concept code and then build exploit detection for the vulnerability, Microsoft reported. All together, the tool has reduced the time it takes to develop and test a proof-of-concept code from eight hours to about two, representing a 75 percent decrease.

Both the MAPP and MSVR programs were initiated to increase the level of industry collaboration, while the Exploitability Index was launched to provide Microsoft customers additional information and guidance on assessing and managing security risk levels for existing security threats that exploit Microsoft operating systems, browsers and applications.

"Our relationship with Microsoft through MAPP gives us the ability to deploy quality protections as soon as the Microsoft security bulletins are made public," said Jason Avery, security analyst with TippingPoint Technologies, in a statement. "The vulnerability information we receive through MAPP allows us to keep our Intrusion Prevention System filters as current as possible, helping ensure our customers get the best protection against malicious exploits."

In addition, Redmond reported that the Microsoft Exploitability Index has consistently proven to be a reliable resource as an accurate risk-assessment tool for vulnerabilities, touting a 99 percent reliability rate thus far. Of the 140 Exploitability Index ratings Microsoft released from October 2008 to June 2009, only one exploitability index ranking required modification, Microsoft said.

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