[ISN] Microsoft To Share More Security Information

[InfoSec News]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209903295

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
August 5, 2008 02:15 PM

At the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, 
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) introduced new initiatives to help IT 
administrators evaluate vulnerabilities in Microsoft software and to 
share information with other security vendors.

The Microsoft Exploitability Index aims to "provide customers with 
additional information to help business professionals prioritize 
patching," explained Mike Reavey, security program manager for Microsoft 
Security Response Center.

The Exploitability Index is Microsoft's attempt to deal with what has 
become an unfortunate, predictable pattern: Microsoft issues a Security 
Bulletin and cybercriminals answer with code designed to exploit the 
newly disclosed vulnerabilities.

Starting with its October patch cycle, Microsoft plans to rate the 
likelihood that vulnerabilities will be exploited. It will do so to help 
administrators prioritize patches.

[...]