Antivirus firms shrug at Microsoft's free security suite

Updated at 1:15 p.m. PST Wednesday with comment from Symantec and at 11:45 a.m. PST Thursday with comments from McAfee and Kaspersky.

For some security companies, Microsoft's decision to offer a free anti-malware product, code-named Morro, won't result in a dramatic change in how they do business.

Morro will be available in the second half of 2009 and will protect against viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans, according to Microsoft.

"With OneCare's market share of less than 2 percent, we understand Microsoft's decision to shift attention to their core business," Joris Evers, director of worldwide public relations for McAfee, said in an e-mail.

As for confronting a free malware solution from a software giant, Evers said, "With more malware attacks than ever before, we believe our advanced technology, commitment to consumer education, superior protection, dedicated focus on security, and our 20-plus years in this business will provide consumers the confidence to choose McAfee as their trusted adviser and expert in security."

Justin Priestley, senior vice president of consumer sales at Kaspersky Lab's Americas division, also seemed not that concerned at the prospect of facing a free security solution from Microsoft.

"Having entered the U.S. consumer market at the same time as Microsoft, we initially viewed them as a formidable player. They've continued to hold a very low market share in the consumer market, and we don't expect the exit of OneCare to change the playing field drastically," Priestley said. "With the increasing threat malware and Web attacks pose, security is as important as ever, and we believe people will continue to choose antimalware software based on the quality of protection and will choose the highest-level product available."

Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of Symantec's consumer business, characterized the announcement as a "capitulation by Microsoft, and a reinforcement of the notion that it's simply not in Microsoft's DNA to provide high-quality, frequently updated security protection."

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Microsoft serves light fare on Patch Tuesday

No critical patches for most Windows users
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco → More by this author
Published Tuesday 11th September 2007 22:00 GMTFind your perfect job - click here from thousands of tech vacancies

Microsoft served comparatively modest fare for its monthly patch release on Tuesday, issuing only four security-related updates, only one of which carried its top severity rating of critical. It plugged a hole in a Windows 2000 component, while the other updates fixed vulnerabilities rated as important in instant messenger programs, Visual Studio .Net and Windows services for
Unix found on several different versions of the Windows operating system.

In a rare event, the typical Windows user is likely to have just one patch to install. It addresses a vulnerability in the MSN Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger that could allow an attacker to take over a machine by tricking a victim into clicking on a specially crafted chat request. Despite MSN Messenger being installed on every copy of Windows, Microsoft rated the flaw important, presumably because it can't be exploited without the user taking action first.

Some users may have no patches to install, as was the case with this reporter. That's because the vulnerability doesn't affect Windows Live Messenger version 8.1, which was installed on the machine. A spokeswoman says other versions of Windows Live Messenger don't use Windows Update to install new updates. Instead, the client prompts the user to install a new version, she said. Windows Update still encouraged us to run Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, as it does every month.

The rest of the updates apply to more technically inclined users. The most serious is the patch for a Windows 2000 component known as Microsoft Agent, which fixes a critical vulnerability that could allow an attacker to remotely execute code of his choosing. A third flaw affecting Visual Studio could also allow a remote execution, but only if a user opens a specially crafted RPT file. The last vulnerability, which affects Windows Services for UNIX 3.0, Windows Services for UNIX 3.5, and Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications, could allow an attacker to elevate privileges.

A fifth patch that had been planned for today was pulled for reasons that are not entirely clear. It was to address a vulnerability in SharePoint and had a severity rating of important. "Once Microsoft has developed and tested a security update that meets its quality bar for release, it will release the final update for this affected product along with a bulletin as part of Microsoft’s regularly scheduled process," a company spokeswoman said. You might say this month's Patch Tuesday was a small snack. By comparison, August's release required users to gorge on nine patches, six of which were rated critical. Internet phone provider Skype said the binge triggered a system-wide outage that lasted several days. The explanation left many of us scratching our heads because Patch Tuesday has been a regular fixture for several years now, and it was unclear why the update bundle only recently wreaked havoc. [...]

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