Brief

Microsoft’s Indian security initiative

Security is a crucial concern for CIOs. As cases of identity thefts and phishing multiply, vendors like Microsoft feel that technology loopholes need to be plugged to stop such attacks. Microsoft has reduced the vulnerability of attacks to 5,000 from 30,000 after six months of its Windows XP SP2 launch. According to Sanjiv Mathur, Director, Customer and Partner Experience, Microsoft India, “Today, vendors have to reduce any technology loopholes to ensure that attackers find it difficult to get in. We have proved it with Windows XP SP2, and I am sure SQL Server 2005 and Windows Vista, to be launched within a year, will see even fewer attacks.”

To ensure that customers get an insight into security issues, Microsoft in association with Microland started the Security Guidance Centre. This Bangalore-based call centre is staffed by 10 Microland employees offering information and patches related to security issues. When the centre opened two years ago, Microsoft catered to the top 500 enterprises, but in the last five months it has increased its customer base by another 1,500; the latter are primarily medium-sized.

“We started this guidance centre to increase awareness of security threats. Every second Tuesday of the month we call up customers and ask them if they have received our mailers, and if there are any security issues they are confronted with. I feel that customers are quite happy with such a service. In time we will increase the customer base being served through this effort,” Mathur says.

He also points out that Microsoft’s Windows 2003, launched almost two years ago, today has 67 percent fewer vulnerability points than it did then. “I don’t say that we have achieved perfection, but yes, the results are there and the fact is that security has become an integral issue for Microsoft. With each new launch there will be more sophisticated technology to ensure fewer threats,” Mathur adds.

The company is also creating awareness about Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) certification. This is a third-party security certification course. “We are encouraging employees as well as users to get this certification as it would ensure more technical expertise in the security space,” states Mathur.

— Atanu Kumar Das