<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">In this issue:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">Windows 7 and Security</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">Windows 7 was released on October 22nd to the general public. IS&T recommends that MIT computer users *wait* to upgrade their Windows operating system to Windows 7 until support issues for products such as TSM (backup), SAPgui, FileMaker Pro 10, and Cisco VPN 64-bit have been resolved. IS&T is offering limited support for Windows 7 at the moment.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; ">When you are ready to acquire a copy of Windows 7 (downloadable from the IS&T Available Software Site at <<a href="http://ist.mit.edu/services/software/windows/7">http://ist.mit.edu/services/software/windows/7</a>>), what new security features can you expect? Windows 7 has been advertised as a more secure computing experience than Vista, so let's take a quick look:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "> * Core system security such as Kernel Patch Protection, Data Execution Prevention, Address Space Layout Randomisation and Mandatory Integrity Levels provide a strong foundation to guard against malicious software and attacks.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "> * The enhanced UAC (User Account Control) enforces least-privilege access. It prevents administrator access to users in order to protect sensitive areas of the operating system. In Windows 7 the number of areas to trigger the UAC prompt has been reduced and a more flexible interface has been incorporated, allowing users to choose among levels of UAC protection. The default setting is now not the most secure.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "> * Finger print scanner support for systems needing additional protection. With Windows 7, Microsoft provides a smoother integration between the operating system and the fingerprint scanning hardware.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "> * Data protection through Encrypting File System and support for Active Directory Rights Management Services. In addition to improvements to these technologies, Windows 7 improves on Vista's BitLocker drive encryption technology and adds BitLocker to Go for encrypting data on removable media.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "> * DirectAccess offers remote workers seamless and secure connectivity when they are out of the office. The system creates a secure tunnel to a network and users don't have to manually substantiate a connection.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; ">Here's what SANS NewsBites editorial board member John Pescatore says on security in Windows 7: "From a security perspective, Windows 7 offers definite improvements over Windows XP, but there is no major security reason to move to Windows 7 before it makes business sense. The biggest improvement in Windows desktop security comes from getting off of the IE6 browser and moving to IE8 or the latest version of Firefox - and you don't need Windows 7 to do that."</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; ">As with all new operating systems, there will be some bugs in the first iteration. If you want to avoid those headaches, you can always wait until Microsoft releases the Service Pack.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Arial; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="font: 14.0px Arial">A</span>n overview of some of the features mentioned above can be found here:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "><<a href="http://www.techreviewsource.com/content/view/305/1/">http://www.techreviewsource.com/content/view/305/1/</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><br></div><div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><div><br></div><div>===============================</div><div>Monique Yeaton</div><div>IT Security Awareness Consultant</div><div>MIT Information Services & Technology (IS&T)</div><div>(617) 253-2715</div><div><a href="http://ist.mit.edu/security">http://ist.mit.edu/security</a></div><div>===============================</div></span></div><div><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B">October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. </font></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B">Stay Safe Online! </font></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B">Visit</font></span></font><span class="Apple-converted-space"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B"> </font></span></font></span><a class="external" title="Link leaves federal government web domain." href="http://www.staysafeoneline.org" a="a"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B">http://www.staysafeoneline.org</font></span></font></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B"> </font></span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF3C1B">for the latest cybersecurity tips.</font></span></font></div></div></span></div></span> </div><br></body></html>