With the tenth anniversary of the launch of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative coming this weekend, it's time to review the impact it's had of late and where the company's security and privacy efforts should be headed for the next decade.
This Sunday marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative, and in a way, the timing couldn’t have been better.an infamous year for security – in which reports of massive data breaches, denial-of-service attacks, industrial malware and hints of intergovernmental cyberwarfare became a part of the daily routine – what better time than now to realign Microsoft’s goals for ensuring Trustworthy Computing?an email to his employees. It wasn’t uncommon, especially just weeks into a new year, for Gates to lay out the company’s top priorities. On Jan. 15, 2002, the decided priority was this new idea of Trustworthy Computing.a feature story that calls the Trustworthy Computing initiative “more important than ever.”it has already started. And at this point it’s nice to have some hope for the future.
Coming off what will be remembered as
Bill Gates first broached the subject in
“Over the last year it has become clear that ensuring .NET is a platform for Trustworthy Computing is more important than any other part of our work,” Gates wrote in the email. “If we don’t do this, people simply won’t be willing – or able – to take advantage of all the other great work we do.”
Now, put aside the notion that ensuring computing on its systems is trustworthy is one of those things that should go unsaid, as well as the fact that the company’s near-monopoly status at the time meant that it was somewhat immune to the negative publicity of a few software vulnerabilities here and there. After looking at this initiative for what it is, it’s clear that Gates was acknowledging and reiterating what was riding on security and reliability in Microsoft products: the company’s livelihood.
“What I mean by this is that customers will always be able to rely on these systems to be available and to secure their information,” Gates wrote. “Trustworthy Computing is computing that is as available, reliable and secure as electricity, water services and telephony.”
Ten years later, Microsoft is reflecting on the goals Gates had laid out, publishing
As Microsoft itself has acknowledged, the overall technology climate is changing, and so should Trustworthy Computing. While many of the company’s objectives remain important to Microsoft security, new problems are emerging that will need just as much attention. The past year brought several newer technologies – cloud computing, big data, virtualization and mobile computing, to name a few – into the mainstream. Considering the Trustworthy Computing initiative was launched 10 years ago, when the term cloud computing was more akin to using a laptop while on an airplane, Microsoft should take the opportunity afforded through this 10-year milestone to lay out a legitimate plan of action for approaching them head-on.
Scott Charney, corporate vice president for Trustworthy Computing, acknowledged the new challenges in security when writing his feature story commemorating the initiative’s 10th anniversary. He pointed to the company’s recognition of these new trends, and emphasized “not only the importance of continued security protection innovation, but also the need for even greater security and privacy awareness among the general public.”
That’s a great thing to say, but it doesn’t really mean much. In Charney’s piece, the security challenges of modern technologies aren’t mentioned until the third-to-last paragraph. Up to that point, he had spent 13 consecutive paragraphs highlighting the vague objectives set forth in Gates’ initial memo and the alleged progress Microsoft has made on them.
Basically, Microsoft appears so focused on highlighting what little good it could find from the past 10 years that it forgot to tell its customers what exactly it will be doing in the next 10 years. On a milestone like this, when the security community and technology media alike will discuss what comes next, it amounts to nothing short of a missed opportunity to instill a little trust in the future of Microsoft computing.
Once the confetti from the initiative’s 10th birthday party has been cleaned up, it’ll be time for Microsoft to either find its path in the new age of security or risk falling behind. In a few small ways,
So happy 10th anniversary to the traditional Trustworthy Computing initiative and all it’s done for the security issues of the past few years. Let’s hope we won’t be celebrating a 20th anniversary of the same old thing.
Colin Neagle covers Microsoft security and network management for Network World. Keep up with his blog: Rated Critical, follow him on Twitter:@ntwrkwrldneagle. Colin’s email is cneagle@nww.com.
