RSA 2007 kicks off with Microsoft security pledge

This year's RSA conference in San Francisco kicked off with an address by Microsoft's Bill Gates and Craig Mundie, wherein the two executives underlined their commitment to security in Windows--especially stronger identity theft protection and IT network security. Microsoft Charmian Gates called for increased protection in accordance with current work culture, which takes the idea of "anywhere access" for granted. "Ultimately, anywhere access depends on whether we can create and share information without fear that it will be compromised, stolen or exploited," said Gates. "Achieving the levels of trust needed to make connected experiences based on anywhere access possible will require an industry-wide effort to change the way we approach digital identities, build networks, and protect information."

To that end, the company debuted a number of new security technologies: the ILM (Identity Lifecycle Manager) 2007 package, which provides an integrated meta-directory for integrating authentication credentials; the OpenID 2.0 specification, a new security spec; a public beta of Forefront Server Security Management Console, a Web-based interface for remote administration of Microsoft messaging and collaboration security tools; and new security features in Internet Explorer 7. Now let's hope that all these tools don't just amount to being prompted for a password every five minutes, Vista-style.

For more on Microsoft's new security strategy:
- see this eWeek article