How will hi-tech criminals attack Vista?

Vista will be the big event in computer security in 2007, say experts and add that it will have a profound effect on both sides of the security world.

Many organised hi-tech criminals and crime gangs are already tearing the new version of Windows apart looking for ways to exploit its weaknesses, say some.
Others are expecting to see Vista attacked soon after it debuts.

While Microsoft's business customers have been able to buy Vista since 30 November, consumers are being forced to wait until late January 2007 to get their hands on the next version of the Windows operating system.

Microsoft has said that the whole development process of the operating system has been run with better security in mind. Within Vista are several technologies that could stop many people falling victim to the most common sorts of malicious attack, said Kevin Hogan, director of security operations at Symantec.

In particular, he said, the way Vista handles user accounts will limit the freedom malicious programs have to run and install themselves surreptitiously.

Increasingly, said Mr Hogan, hi-tech criminals were booby-trapping benign looking webpages with code that slips through vulnerabilities in the various versions of Windows. It should also help stop people being caught out by malicious attachments on e-mail messages.

"That'll deal with a lot of the current threats we are seeing," said Mr Hogan.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security firm F-Secure, said the warnings that these account controls display when malicious code tries to install itself will prove useful.
"It'll become much more obvious when they get infected," he said.

For more innformation check this BBC News article.