Kaspersky defends Microsoft, refutes Vista security lockout claims

Stan Beer
Sunday, 08 October 2006 23:01

Business IT - Security

Russian security vendor Kapersky has jumped to the defence of Microsoft, refuting claims by rival security vendors Symantec and McAfee that Microsoft is using its monopoly to lock them out of access to the Vista operating system kernel.

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According to a Reuters report, Kapersky co-founder and chief executive Natalya Kapersky said that from what the company had seen of Vista, Microsoft was not blocking access to the core.

Bothe Symantec and McAfee, the two largest security software vendors in the world, claim that the Patchguard feature of Vista, which locks up the kernel to prevent modification of the core code, would not make exceptions form security companies so that they could protect the operating system from the inside out.

Both McAfee and Symantec say that Patchguard has already been hacked at least once.

The two security vendors have become increasingly vocal against Microsoft and Vista since the Redmond software company entered their security space with its Windows Live OneCare  security suite, significantly undercutting their prices in the process.

Microsoft has answered the two major security vendors' accusations, saying that it will continue to work hand-in-hand with computer security vendors on Vista.