Symantec pokes at Vista security

By CNET News.com StaffJuly 20, 2006 5:00 PM PST

Windows chief Jim Allchin has urged people to buy Vista for its security features, saying that it will have better protections against phishing attacks, spyware and other malicious code. It's a savvy move on Microsoft's part, as the company's products have borne the brunt of hackers' attentions.

But this week, Symantec said that it had poked around in the networking stack of the latest Vista beta and found lots of bugs. It concluded that in the short term, the stability and security of the upcoming operating system would lag that of XP.
The Vista beta code survey comes as Symantec faces competition from Microsoft's ever-expanding interest in security software, both integrated into products and standalone titles. To find out what people on the street make of it, we asked our Vista Views panel, made up of ordinary readers, this question: Symantec researchers say that right now, the networking features in Vista are a security cause for concern. Are you worried?