BeyondTrust Research Report Sample

Microsoft and their partners regularly identify new security vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. In 2009 Microsoft published nearly 75 security bulletins documenting and providing patches for nearly 200 vulnerabilities. By examining all of the published Microsoft vulnerabilities in 2009 and all of the published Windows 7 vulnerabilities to date, this report quantifies the continued effectiveness of removing administrator rights at mitigating vulnerabilities in Microsoft software.

Microsoft is to be lauded for releasing patches to known vulnerabilities each month. However, vulnerabilities take time to identify and patches take time to apply. During this period, threats can damage a corporate network and gain access to sensitive information. It is important that companies follow general best practices to improve security. As companies migrate to Windows 7 they need to include plans to implement a desktop Privilege Identity Management solution in order to reduce the severity or prevent the exploitation of undiscovered or unpatched vulnerabilities and to ensure that their users can operate effectively without administrator rights.