RSA Conference 2007 Keynote

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In the keynote today at the RSA Conference 2007, the technology-security industry’s annual conference, Bill Gates and Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie discussed the state of security, the threat landscape and the vision for a world of secure and easy anywhere access. They spoke to the need for an industry-wide ecosystem where personal and corporate information is protected so that users can access, share and use information without worrying about it being compromised, stolen or exploited.

The keynote reflected an Executive E-Mail sent today by Gates to Microsoft customers, which proposed that the answer to advancing a connected world lies in trust – in creating systems and processes that are always secure so that people and organizations have a high degree of confidence that the technology they use will protect their identity, their privacy and their information.” Gates outlined identity, network and protection as areas the security industry must focus on to build customer trust and ensure that anywhere-access becomes a reality.

The presentation at RSA comes on the heels of last week’s launch of Windows Vista, which Microsoft heralded as the most secure, privacy-enhancing and extensively tested operating system it has ever released. Features in Windows Vista such as User Account Control and Group Policy for Devices give IT staff greater control of how employees use the network and the devices they can use. Microsoft noted that many of these improvements are a direct result of processes related to the company’s ongoing Trustworthy Computing efforts, and that Trustworthy Computing has become an integral part of the company’s development processes, and transformed the way it approaches security and privacy protection.

The Roadmap to Secure Anywhere Access
At RSA, Microsoft also announced several new, security-related products and partner initiatives including: