Security is on top of the agenda for Microsoft

MS 'Security Shootout' initiative targets Indian developers

With security vulnerability robbing most enterprises of their sleep, Microsoft has come out with a unique idea - Security Shootout. Latest from the house of the software provider, Security Shootout aims at promoting a secure code writing among developers in India.

Vaibhav Phadnis, director, server business, Microsoft Corporation (India) told Business Standard that the level of vulnerability across the industry had increased over 10-fold over the last five years while the highest of over 5,000 such cases reported in 2005.

"Though Microsoft contributes the least to the total vulnerability (about 15 per cent), it was the duty of the leader to promote secure code writing among developers," he said.

Gartner research says that 70 per cent of all enterprises' security vulnerabilities occur at the software application stage. Phadnis said that Microsoft?s own research had found that 64 per cent of the in-house enterprise software developers agreed that they lacked the confidence to write secure applications.

"There is an urgent need to train developers on how to write a secure code," he said adding that Microsoft's Security Shootout was aimed at over 6.5 lakh developers in India, which is the largest outside USA.

In fact, security had been getting top priority within Microsoft for the last four years. In 2002, Microsoft launched `Trustworthy Computing', an initiative which had carbonised the whole organisation to focus on security.

"This has no doubt ensured that the next version of our product is more secure than the earlier version and a continuous improvement in bringing out more secure products," said Rakesh Kharwal, security marketing manager, Microsoft (India).

According to Kharwal the company had significant investment in the area of security.

He said Microsoft had established security guidance centres to make its customers aware of the security threats. The latest initiative was an extension of the effort, Microsoft had taken up earlier, he added.

Microsoft's 'Security Shootout' comprises three online rounds. In the first round, the participants will need to answer 30 questions and based on their scores, 1,000 participants will move to the second level. The final round will have 100 participants who will be given an application with vulnerabilities built in. The finalists will have to identify and neutralise these.

The developer with the best secure coding skills will be given a customised Scorpio Passion. This apart, participants can also win over 7500 prizes which include Toshiba tecra M4 laptops for runner ups and pocket PCs and 80GB USB 2.0 powered external hard disk drives. This apart, Microsoft will provide security certification vouchers to the top 500 participants. This will help them hone their code development skills over the long term, Kharwal informed.