How Microsoft's Windows Red Team Keeps PCs Safe (wired.com) 83
Wired has a story on Windows' red team, which consists of a group of hackers (one of whom jailbroke Nintendo handhelds in a former life, another has more than one zero-day exploit to his name, and a third signed on just prior to the devastating Shadow Brokers leak), who are tasked with finding holes in the world's most used desktop operating system. From the story: The Windows red team didn't exist four years ago. That's around the time that David Weston, who currently leads the crew as principal security group manager for Windows, made his pitch for Microsoft to rethink how it handled the security of its marquee product. "Most of our hardening of the Windows operating system in previous generations was: Wait for a big attack to happen, or wait for someone to tell us about a new technique, and then spend some time trying to fix that," Weston says. "Obviously that's not ideal when the stakes are very high."
[...] Together, the red teamers spend their days attacking Windows. Every year, they develop a zero-day exploit to test their defensive blue-team counterparts. And when emergencies like Spectre or EternalBlue happen, they're among the first to get the call. Again, red teams aren't novel; companies that can afford them -- and that are aware they could be targeted -- tend to use them. If anything, it may come as a surprise that Microsoft hadn't sicced one on Windows until so recently. Microsoft as a company already had several other red teams in place by the time Weston built one for Windows, though those focused more on operational issues like unpatched machines. "Windows is still the central repository of malware and exploits. Practically, there's so much business done around the world on Windows. The attacker mentality is to get the biggest return on investment in what you develop in terms of code and exploits," says Aaron Lint, who regularly works with red teams in his role as chief scientist at application protection provider Arxan. "Windows is the obvious target."
[...] Together, the red teamers spend their days attacking Windows. Every year, they develop a zero-day exploit to test their defensive blue-team counterparts. And when emergencies like Spectre or EternalBlue happen, they're among the first to get the call. Again, red teams aren't novel; companies that can afford them -- and that are aware they could be targeted -- tend to use them. If anything, it may come as a surprise that Microsoft hadn't sicced one on Windows until so recently. Microsoft as a company already had several other red teams in place by the time Weston built one for Windows, though those focused more on operational issues like unpatched machines. "Windows is still the central repository of malware and exploits. Practically, there's so much business done around the world on Windows. The attacker mentality is to get the biggest return on investment in what you develop in terms of code and exploits," says Aaron Lint, who regularly works with red teams in his role as chief scientist at application protection provider Arxan. "Windows is the obvious target."
Let me guess... (Score:5, Funny)
Let me guess - "not very well". Wait, is that a trick question?
Re: It's a paid ad (Score:2, Interesting)
Totally paid. Did slashdot get included with the gitub snatch?
Re: (Score:1)
They are in it for profit
Oh, my sweet summer child ..
Re:Let me guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft's solution to insecure code was to graft on a layer of insecure security code.
They tried. But the hackers are trying harder and winning.
Again and again and again and again.
Re: (Score:3)
Microsoft's solution to insecure code was to graft on a layer of insecure security code.
That's right [zdnet.com].
Re:Let me guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft's solution to insecure code was to graft on a layer of insecure security code.
Their solution to every problem is to graft on a layer of code, instead of fixing the problem. Windows is mostly made of fossilized band-aids at this point, carved into the shape of an awkward semi-tablet OS.
Re:Let me guess... (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft's solution to insecure code was to graft on a layer of insecure security code.
No, the Microsoft solution for insecure code is to have the user run multiple conflicting and insecure antivirus programs constantly in background. This slows down the system enough so viruses don't have time to do much damage before the next Windows Update.
Re: (Score:2)
MS document, hell! In my residential IT practice, I run into this situation all the time on Windows systems. Although the customer's new PC comes preloaded with the Windows Defender / MS Security Essentials that is now bundled with Windows, the hardware manufacturer often adds a trial copy of Norton Plugitallup 24/7 from force of habit. Then when the user's great-grandchildren come to Arizona (America's Hunzaland) for Christmas they install Avast because that's what they run on their old PC at home.
When I a
Re:Let me guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually they started out with a fairly secure OS, Windows NT. It had Unix-like permissions and actually went well beyond what most Unix-like systems of the time did in terms of access control.
They they made it into a desktop OS (2000 and XP) which meant compromising the security in order to make it more compatible with Windows 98/ME. So they took a secure OS and added layers of insecurity on top.
Red Team (Score:4, Funny)
Let me guess too :
"Red Team" - also known as, the team at Microsoft with the highest stress-related burnout and suicide rates ?
Re: Red Team (Score:3)
Safe windows (Score:2)
>> How Microsoft's Windows Red Team Keeps PCs Safe
Windows.
Safe.
Yeah, right.
Are these the nice people (Score:5, Funny)
Are these the nice people that call me all the time from Microsoft who want to help fix my computer?
"Windows is the obvious target." (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Cisco is not a target.
It's an open bar everyone can get drunken fro free.
Re:The only way the blue team wins is to power dow (Score:4, Insightful)
The only way the blue team can beat the red team is to turn off their computers...
Nope, thanks to the Intel IME bullshit, not even turning off will help
Keeps your PC safe (Score:2)
All that effort kept the very best security experts guessing at what PRISM was for years.
MS kept NSA collection safe on your PC.
Re: (Score:2)
LOL (Score:1)
Oh I feel safe knowing that my corporate data is protected by some 0-day gameboy hackers.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Red versus Blue? (Score:2)
Are the members of the Red and Blue teams sure they're actually doing what they've been told that they're doing? Is the head of Red team a super gung-ho moron? Is there a Spanish-speaking robot somewhere in the mix?
Re: (Score:2)
What team was used to suggest they could totally trust the privacy and crypto settings?
How Microsoft's Windows Red Team Keeps PCs Safe? (Score:2, Insightful)
The Microsoft cyber attack DW Documentary [youtube.com]
Ob (Score:4, Funny)
They found the "off" switch?
doing a good job? (Score:2)
an exploit a day? they've been awefully quit about it, all big vulnerabilities on windows i read about are found by other teams outside MS.
right now, i got the impression Google is doing a better job finding vuls in Windows, and i can assume the 'red team' has access to the source code!