Kernel Patch Protection Questioned

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Asking software developers to obey restrictions which hackers will have no compunction in ignoring has raised the hackles of some third-party security tool vendors.

Kernel Patch Protection protects low-level system activities such as the file and registry operations of the Windows kernel. Program that gains access to the kernel can, for instance, hide a folder on the hard disk and make it impossible to delete that folder using standard tools. The technology is slated for delivery with Windows Vista and 64-bit versions of Windows. Agnitum describes Microsoft's approach as misguided, if not deliberately anti-competitive.

"Microsoft made a logical move with this attempt to protect Windows against rootkits," said Mikhail Penkovsky, vice president of sales and marketing at Agnitum. "Unfortunately, it doesn't really resolve the problem, and also makes it a great deal more difficult for independent security software developers to be fully compatible with Windows."

"Nobody knows if Microsoft has done this intentionally, but we can't avoid the suspicion that this move may have been designed to force users to rely on Microsoft and only Microsoft for Windows security," he added.

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Source: The Register