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Microsoft's Bitlocker compromised by bad SSD encryption
Bad computer security can sometimes have a cascading effect, as researchers from the Netherlands discovered. They first spotted vulnerabilities in the embedded encryption of several SSD models from Samsung and Crucial that allowed them to access data without a password. Then, to make matters worse, they noticed that Windows 10 Bitlocker defaults to SSD encryption, when available. That means if you happened to have one of those SSDs and used Bitlocker, attackers with access to your PC could easily gain access to your files.
MS teases Windows Phone 8 enterprise features: Company Hub, encryption, secure boot, IT management
At today's Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft alluded to some of the next-gen OS' enterprise features, including a trusted shared Windows core, encryption, secure boot and IT device management. Company VP Joe Belfiore recognized that some business users haven't been satisfied with the operating system's previous suite of enterprise features, and that definitely appears to be one focus of Windows Phone 8. BitLocker Drive Encryption will provide support for device security, while IT administrators will have have the ability to push apps to handsets while sidestepping the Marketplace. Office will also have a greater presence in Windows Phone 8, though we don't know exactly how that will play out just yet. Enterprise clearly hasn't been a primary target of Microsoft's mobile OS to date, but that could very well change beginning this fall. There's also a new Company Hub feature, which will allow companies their own app distribution pipe, as well as giving IT administrators the ability to highlight specific things depending on what's important to their organization. With so many Windows machines in the workplace, it's pretty smart for Microsoft to take a serious dive into this stuff, and it's honestly really slick. There's also a Microsoft IT app, which the company claims will be provided in template form so that outfits can tweak it to fit specific needs. To check out the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows Phone event, visit our liveblog!
Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 share lots of code, NT kernel
It's not a complete surprise, but it's still a little bit shocking that it's actually happening -- Windows Phone 8 will be borrowing much of its code base, including the kernel, from Windows 8. At the heart of the latest mobile OS from Microsoft is the full-fledged NT kernel. It's not just a kernel though, the so-called "Shared Windows Core" extends to the file system, security infrastructure, etc... The obvious benefit here is to streamline the creation of a coherent ecosystem. Developers will be able to easily create apps and drivers that can jump from the phone, to the tablet and to the desktop. Only having to write a driver once should also simplify the process of building hardware, meaning manufacturers won't have to tailor GPU code to a phone and start again on the desktop. They OSes even share a substantial chunk of browser code, finally bringing Windows Phone up to parity with its desktop IE progenitors. For enterprise users and IT departments, Microsoft has brought over Secure Boot, BitLocker and some serious encryption. We'd say it's about time that Redmond finally brought all its Windows power to the mobile space. Thanks to the sharing of C and C++ libraries, Direct X components and SQLite support, developers can actually write an app once and move it from one platform to another with only a few code tweaks. In fact, thanks to the Shared Windows Core, pretty much the only major difference for coders is screen resolution and size. Obviously, a 4-inch 720p display isn't the same as a 1080p 10-inch tablet, but the Direct X graphics engine is -- and that, friends, can make all the difference.
