When we last checked in on the Microsoft Security saga, the boys in Redmond had thrown a bone to third-party security vendors in the form of a kernel-level API. At the time, I asked if it was too little too late. Apparently, it was, if Symantec and McAfee are to be believed. "There has been a lot of confusion based on what Microsoft has said publicly," said Rowan Trollope, Symantec's VP of Consumer Products and Solutions. "First, to be clear, Symantec already uses all available security related APIs provided by Microsoft. The key word here is 'available;' there are no available APIs for these advanced protection technologies we offer today." Meanwhile, a statement issued by McAfee claimed that, "Contrary to what it says publicly, Microsoft has not cooperated with the leading security providers. In fact, we have not received anything at all from Microsoft concerning PatchGuard." The statement also addressed the issue of timing, asserting that, "it is not at all acceptable for MS to wait until a service pack and not offer us kernel access until after the launch of Vista." Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software agreed, calling Microsoft's announcement a "red herring," designed to appease the press, not security vendors.

What's more, Symantec claims that they've already cracked PatchGuard--and if they can do it, then the hackers can too. However, security vendors won't be allowed to use such workarounds, placing them at a disadvantage. Imagine a world where the hackers have kernel access and the security companies don't and you'll catch my drift.

To be fair though, until the 64-bit version of Vista ships, no one will know for sure whether Microsoft's new PatchGuard strategy will prove as damaging to security on the desktop as we've been told it will be. If anything, this whole saga is only going to make enterprises more weary when they start to look at the viability of future Vista deployment. McAfee and Symantec could be exaggerating the risk to users but Microsoft would still be wise to deal with this issue--and soon.

For more on PatchGuard:
- check out this BetaNews article on Symantec
- and this Channel Register article on McAfee

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