Gates Discusses Various Things at S.F. Security Conference

In the age of widespread use of computers and laptops, the tech industry faces the challenge of keeping information secure, said Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates in a statement that Cbs5 published on February 6, 2007. Bill Gates delivered his speech to a large gathering of computer security specialists at a conference in San Francisco. He called for a "powerful paradigm" to foil cyber crime.

Addressing a yearly gathering of 15,000 experts in San Francisco, working in the field of computer security, Gates illustrated his point with a medieval castle metaphor. He said security people erect thicker fortress walls and dig bigger moats but don't think of protecting the corporate crown jewels when members of the crown family walk out of the castle and leave the drawbridge unfolded.

Speaking in perspective in an RSA conference, Bill Gates discussed the need to add security to systems by utilizing the existing technologies. That could include the IPSec protocol designed to hold the secure exchange of packages at the IP layer, and also the recent IPv6 standards, which encourage a greater number of hosts interlinked by the Internet as also data throughput.

Gates repeated that Windows Vista that was introduced in January 2007 was by far the most secure operating system. But he admitted that all software proved to be weak when thieves stole confidential information through servers, or when corporate workforce use the same simple, obvious password on several accounts.

Gates suggests use of "public key certificates" instead of passwords. These certificates are combinations of digital signatures and personal identifying information such as name, address, social security number and the like. Gates terms it the "identity metasystem".

Gates and Microsoft 'security guru' Craig Mundie called for a common standard to build a computer security technology. As people try to access data from a varied number of places and connect more devices to the Internet, the security job will get wider and complex posing a tougher challenge, said Mundie at the RSA conference.

The software giant is promoting 'Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007' to authenticate businesses that will migrate enterprises from use of passwords to smart cards.

» SPAMfighter News - 2/15/2007