http://www.ntsecurity.net/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=20596
Mark Joseph Edwards
Windows IT Security News
April 6, 2001
Microsoft quietly put a new test site online last Saturday to let
hackers attempt to breach Windows XP's security. Microsoft placed a
version of Windows XP Home Edition online in a configuration that
resembles a typical user's home setup. The Web site will help
Microsoft determine configuration settings that it can recommend to
potential users of the new OS.
According to the site description, Microsoft configured a small
network consisting of two systems running XP Home Edition, Beta 2. One
system, named Whisper1, is running a Microsoft Internet Connection
Firewall, which is a new stateful inspection-based personal firewall
that will ship with XP Home Edition. A second system, named Whisper2
and also running XP Home Edition, moves traffic in and out of the
Internet over a DSL connection routed through Whisper1 using Internet
Connection Sharing.
Whisper2 runs typical end-user software, such as a mail client,
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), MSN Messenger, and MSN Money. A
fictitious user named Fred updates a daily activity log on the test
site to reveal how Fred uses his machine each day.
In 1999, Microsoft launched a similar effort to test Windows 2000
Server. According to sources inside Microsoft, that effort was very
successful in helping the company identify numerous problems before it
released the OS to the public. Microsoft hopes to have similar success
with the new Windows XP test site.
http://www.testwindowsxp.net/
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Received on Mon Apr 9 02:01 CDT 2001