June 2007 Editor's Note: Microsoft Forefront

Please, a round of applause now for the interactive editor's note! Here's the June 2007 version, where I discuss Microsoft Forefront. I'm throwing it open to discussion here, so blast away. - JT

Have you noticed how  security concerns have become a bit more manageable lately? Sure, we’d like to take all the credit for it ourselves here at TechNet Magazine, but there are a few other factors that come into play. The two biggest ones are awareness and robustness.

Awareness is simply being tuned into potential threats and social engineering tricks plus staying on top of regular patches and updates that protect installed software. Robustness is the other side of the coin, the idea that software can be built to be more secure and to minimize its attack surface by turning exposed features off by default.

Oh, and there’s one more factor—reading TechNet Magazine on a regular basis. Can’t forget that! You’re holding our already-almost-famous Security issue, and it contains no fewer than seven articles that will help you become a more fearsome security analyst/practitioner for your company. Mark Russinovich leads off with a look at UAC internals, while Steve Riley dives into the Windows Firewall, and Jesper Johansson explores ACL changes in Windows Vista. We’ve also got Jeremy Moskowitz talking about Group Policy and hardware lockdowns, Michael Murgolo contributing script elevation PowerToys, and much more. This issue that you’re holding now could seriously be the greatest magazine ever published by anyone anywhere.

While you’re maintaining your state of alertness, you should get to know the newest security offering from Microsoft. Microsoft Forefront represents the "robustness;" factor; it’s a line of business security products that provides protection in three areas: client operating systems, application servers, and the network edge. It includes security tools for Exchange Server and SharePoint, as well as incorporating ISA Server and Intelligent Application Gateway for network traffic. Microsoft System Center embodies the "awareness" piece of the puzzle, as it lets you gather knowledge about your systems, streamline operations and management, generate reporting, and enhance service delivery. It includes the next generation of configuration management and operations monitoring technologies, among other tools.

To find out more about Forefront and System Center, visit the Microsoft Infrastructure site at Microsoft.com/infrastructure. And to get the top solutions for your security puzzles, stay aware and robust with TechNet Magazine.