Vista is still very new in it’s RTM form. For most people that means plenty of application installation and system configuration. This in turn means plenty of privileged writing to the registry or file system. This in turn will mean plenty of UAC dialogues prompting for elevated privilege.
Before I go much further I will confess that I came from the world of Unix and “su” and more recently I lived the Least User Access lifestyle, as prescribed by Aaron Margosis on Windows XP SP2 x64. LUA was initially painful, but I soon got the hang of it and persisted. I therefore have perhaps a slightly distorted view when it comes to LUA usability in Windows Vista...
So, back to my complaint. I am hearing a lot of IT professionals bitterly complaining about UAC in Windows Vista and hastily moving to turn it off! I am so disappointed! UAC is a part of the overall defence in depth strategy and is a mitigation against many malware scenarios. It is a pain in the backside for those coming from a world of running as admin, but UAC recedes mostly into the background over time.
Security guru Michael Howard has noted how this perception of UAC really does not compare with its reality. For a long time, Microsoft and its operating systems have been at the sharp end of much criticism for a lack of security. This is due to some failures (clearly) and also due to the number of deployed Windows machines making it the most attractive target and also the largest affected audience. However, take a look at the following links and I think you will agree that with Windows Vista shows considerable promise as a more secure OS:
· Windows Vista - 90 Day Vulnerability Report
· Surprise, Microsoft Listed as Most Secure OS
UAC is part of this success that we have all been hankering for and I think as professionals of the IT industry we should be doing everything to applaud this effort and perhaps accept that the innocent childhood of running around as admin are over and that the price we are paying for this new security conscious era is very small. And for those who claim that as professionals they can always spot a phishing attack or a naughty attachment – good for you. I hope you can also spot the zero day flaws that don’t require you to double click an attachment and proceed to assume your domain admin context to wreak havoc. You can then enjoy explaining to your CEO why you were so special as an IT professional that you didn’t need to adopt a security conscious mindset...