• September 15, 2003 •
Microsoft Releases Threats and Countermeasures Guide
By: Arie Slob
Last Wednesday Microsoft released a "Threats and Countermeasures Guide" for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
The Threats and Countermeasures Guide contains detailed information about relevant security settings that can be configured on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. The guide details the different threats, potential countermeasures, and the potential impact of configuring these settings.
The Threats and Countermeasures Guide is a companion guide for two other publications available from Microsoft: The Windows Server 2003 Security Guide, and the Windows XP Security Guide. Many of the countermeasures in this guide are not implemented in those guides for specific computer roles, or in some cases for any roles at all. These decisions were made to ensure compatibility, usability, manageability, availability, or performance. While it has been said many times before, it is nonetheless worth remembering that security and functionality are the opposite extremes of a continuum; the greater the level of security, the lower the level of functionality, and vice versa.
You can download the Threats and Countermeasures Guide from the Microsoft Web site [1.87 MB], or read the Guide on-line on the Microsoft TechNet Web site.
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