So you who know who to blame when it goes wrong
AN OPEN SAUCE security feature is being used by Microsoft to protect its new super soar-away operating system, Vista, from buffer overrun exploits.
The feature, called Address Space Layout Randomization (ALSR) has been sneaked under the bonnet of Windows Vista Beta 2 as part of a larger plan to make it more difficult to automate attacks against the operating system.
ALSR randomly arranges the positions of key data areas to prevent malicious hackers from predicting target addresses.
The Vole's senior security program manager, Michael Howard told readers of his
bog that it was switched on by default, too.
Howard said the software was added late in the game and that sticking on by default it gave the Vole the chance to see how it performs. He said it could serve as a "useful defence" against malware attacks. It is a feature of OpenBSD, PaX and Exec Shield.
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