Swedish Windows Security User Group

Threat modeling is an invaluable part of the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process. We have discussed in the past how applying a structured approach to threat scenarios during the design phase of development helps teams more effectively and less expensively identify security vulnerabilities, determine risks from those threats, and establish appropriate mitigations.

The Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 is a free tool to help you find threats in the design phase of software projects.  It’s available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center.  This latest release simplifies working with threats and provides a new editor for defining your own threats.  Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 has several improvements.

• New Threat Grid
• Template Editor
• Migrating Existing Data Flow Diagrams

New Threat Grid

The threat grid has been overhauled.  Now you can sort and filter on any column.  You can easily filter the grid to show threats for any flow.  You can sort on the interaction column if you want to group all the threats for each flow.  You can sort on the changed by column if you want to find that threat you just edited.

Template Editor

Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 comes with a base set of threat definitions using STRIDE categories. This set includes only suggested threat definitions and mitigations which are automatically generated to show potential security vulnerabilities for your data flow diagram. To offer more flexibility, Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 gives users the option to add their own threats related to their specific domain. This means users can extend the base set of threat definitions using the template editor.

The template editor also allows users to modify the stencils available on the drawing surface.  If you have a stencil you would like to make available for your DFDs, you can add it.  If you need another stencil property, you can add that.

Migrating Existing Data Flow Diagrams

Threat modeling is an iterative process. Development teams create threat models which evolve over time as systems and threats change. We wanted to make sure the new version supports this flow. Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 will load any threat model from Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2014, in the .tm4 format. Threat models created with v3 version of the tool (.tms format) must be migrated to the Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2014 format (.tm4) before they can be loaded in Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016.  Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2014 offers a migration tool for threat models created with version 3.1.8. (NOTE: For migrating threat models from v3.1.8 only, Microsoft Visio 2007 or later is required).

Additional Information

We hope these new enhancements in Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2016 will provide greater flexibility and help enable you to effectively implement the SDL process in your organization.

Thank you to all who helped in shipping this release through internal and external feedback. Your input was critical to improving the tool and customer experience.

For more information and additional resources, visit:

• Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL)
• Getting Started with Threat Modeling: Elevation of Privilege (EoP) Game
• Threat Modeling: Designing for Security (BOOK)

Alex Armanasu is an Engineer on the Secure Development Tools team at Microsoft. He’s responsible for the Threat Modeling component of the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL).

At 2:00 A.M. on July 13, 2001, Microsoft’s then head of security response got a phone call about a computer worm named “Code Red” that was spreading across computers that connected to the Internet. When the worm quickly spread to hundreds of thousands of computers, Microsoft redoubled its security efforts. But the criminals weren’t going away anytime soon.

Some say that this was the defining moment that began Microsoft’s real battle against worms, viruses, and other malware and the people who create them.

Microsoft learned early on that if it wanted to succeed at building trust with its customers, it could not make security an afterthought when developing its products and services.  Thus, the Security Development Lifecycle was born.

Read the full story at SDLstory.com.

The financial services industry is one of the world’s largest industries by monetary value, and an industry which has a direct impact on the lives of billions of people around the world. Organizations in the financial services industry handle trillions of transactions each year involving sensitive information about individuals, companies, and other third parties. To help protect this sensitive information it is important that financial services organizations are developing, procuring, and using software applications that have been developed with security in mind.

Microsoft commissioned an independent research and consultancy firm, The Edison Group, to examine the current state of application development in the financial services sector from a security perspective. Their report – Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle Adoption: Why and How – is available today.
The paper was developed following in-depth interviews with Chief Security Officers and senior executives representing some of the leading banks and financial services companies in the United States. Some highlights from the paper..  Read more

…(read more)

While the Internet is an amazing resource in terms of the information you can find and things you can do today, it’s important to also be smart about how you browse. A browser can be a great tool in helping you stay safe when you go online.

Most online attacks fall into one of the three situations:

1. Malware that relies on social engineering to spread

2. Attacks directed against your browser or your operating system

3. Attacks directed towards the websites you visit

Let me spend some time describing what I mean by each of these, and also how Internet Explorer can help protect you from each of these types of attacks.

Helping Protect You from Socially Engineered Attacks

A term that you may hear on occasion within the security realm is “socially engineered attacks.” What this means is an attacker uses clever techniques to get you to lower your guard and trick you into doing something that makes you vulnerable to an attack. The idea here is that they aren’t looking for weaknesses in code; rather, they’re trying to fool you into a trap.

The ways in which we see this play out are varied; it may be that you get spam – that is to say an email from a fake bank that actually takes you to a malicious site, or an email supposedly from a friend that encourages you to download a file which may contain malware. To help keep you safe from such types of attacks, Internet Explorer comes with the Smart Screen filter technology, which has been improved even more with Internet Explorer 9. SmartScreen makes it harder for someone to trick you into opening a malicious page, or con you with a phishing site. This technology checks to see if the site you’re visiting is suspected of hosting malicious code and subsequently prevents you from continuing on to that page. Internet Explorer 9 goes one step further by warning you only when you download applications that may be of higher risk.

Technologies like this can make a big difference in helping to keep you safe online. In December, NSS Labs reported that Internet Explorer offers the best protection against the spread of socially-engineered malware. As you can see in the below chart, Internet Explorer 8 (90%) and Internet Explorer 9 (99%) offer significantly more protection than other browsers.

Mitigating Attacks on Your Browser and PC

Internet Explorer also helps protect against deliberate attacks where bad code is hosted on a site that is designed to exploit weaknesses in the software on your PC. Among all the lines of code that make up software, there can be vulnerabilities. The Internet Explorer team designed its browser with security in mind, and in comparison to other browsers, Internet Explorer has fewer vulnerabilities. The chart below illustrates the number of publicly known vulnerabilities in 2010 divided by each browser, according to the National Vulnerability Database.

*Data source: National Vulnerability Database. Data is based upon the most recently shipped versions available during this time period. In the case of Chrome, versions 5, 6, 7, & 8 were all released during this time period.

At Microsoft, products are built with a secure-by-design approach, where security is designed into the product from the ground up. The result of this effort is a browser that includes specific features to help people stay secure and technologies that help insulate the browser against exploits. In addition to Microsoft’s security processes, which includes the Security Development Lifecycle, Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP), and monthly security bulletins, some ways in which you might see this at a product level include features such as Protected Mode, Data Execution Prevention, and many others, both in Internet Explorer 8, and the soon to be released Internet Explorer 9.

Protecting Against the Compromised Websites

This last scenario is when an attacker that has compromised a site that you visit in a way that interferes with how your browser relates to the site. This type of an attack is called a cross-site scripting attack. In this instance, an attacker gets an unsuspecting server to load special code on your browser that allows the attacker to do anything from monitoring your keystrokes to performing actions on your behalf on the site. Internet Explorer has built in a Cross-Site Script Filter that makes such attacks more difficult and helps protect you.

The upcoming release of Internet Explorer 9 contains even more features designed to help keep you safer such as ActiveX Filtering and Application Reputation. More information on how Microsoft technologies can keep you secure can be found here.

While the Internet is an amazing resource in terms of the information you can find and things you can do today, it’s important to also be smart about how you browse. A browser can be a great tool in helping you stay safe when you go online.

Most online attacks fall into one of the three situations:

1. Malware that relies on social engineering to spread

2. Attacks directed against your browser or your operating system

3. Attacks directed towards the websites you visit

Let me spend some time describing what I mean by each of these, and also how Internet Explorer can help protect you from each of these types of attacks.

Helping Protect You from Socially Engineered Attacks

A term that you may hear on occasion within the security realm is “socially engineered attacks.” What this means is an attacker uses clever techniques to get you to lower your guard and trick you into doing something that makes you vulnerable to an attack. The idea here is that they aren’t looking for weaknesses in code; rather, they’re trying to fool you into a trap.

The ways in which we see this play out are varied; it may be that you get spam – that is to say an email from a fake bank that actually takes you to a malicious site, or an email supposedly from a friend that encourages you to download a file which may contain malware. To help keep you safe from such types of attacks, Internet Explorer comes with the Smart Screen filter technology, which has been improved even more with Internet Explorer 9. SmartScreen makes it harder for someone to trick you into opening a malicious page, or con you with a phishing site. This technology checks to see if the site you’re visiting is suspected of hosting malicious code and subsequently prevents you from continuing on to that page. Internet Explorer 9 goes one step further by warning you only when you download applications that may be of higher risk.

Technologies like this can make a big difference in helping to keep you safe online. In December, NSS Labs reported that Internet Explorer offers the best protection against the spread of socially-engineered malware. As you can see in the below chart, Internet Explorer 8 (90%) and Internet Explorer 9 (99%) offer significantly more protection than other browsers.

Mitigating Attacks on Your Browser and PC

Internet Explorer also helps protect against deliberate attacks where bad code is hosted on a site that is designed to exploit weaknesses in the software on your PC. Among all the lines of code that make up software, there can be vulnerabilities. The Internet Explorer team designed its browser with security in mind, and in comparison to other browsers, Internet Explorer has fewer vulnerabilities. The chart below illustrates the number of publicly known vulnerabilities in 2010 divided by each browser, according to the National Vulnerability Database.

*Data source: National Vulnerability Database. Data is based upon the most recently shipped versions available during this time period. In the case of Chrome, versions 5, 6, 7, & 8 were all released during this time period.

At Microsoft, products are built with a secure-by-design approach, where security is designed into the product from the ground up. The result of this effort is a browser that includes specific features to help people stay secure and technologies that help insulate the browser against exploits. In addition to Microsoft’s security processes, which includes the Security Development Lifecycle, Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP), and monthly security bulletins, some ways in which you might see this at a product level include features such as Protected Mode, Data Execution Prevention, and many others, both in Internet Explorer 8, and the soon to be released Internet Explorer 9.

Protecting Against the Compromised Websites

This last scenario is when an attacker that has compromised a site that you visit in a way that interferes with how your browser relates to the site. This type of an attack is called a cross-site scripting attack. In this instance, an attacker gets an unsuspecting server to load special code on your browser that allows the attacker to do anything from monitoring your keystrokes to performing actions on your behalf on the site. Internet Explorer has built in a Cross-Site Script Filter that makes such attacks more difficult and helps protect you.

The upcoming release of Internet Explorer 9 contains even more features designed to help keep you safer such as ActiveX Filtering and Application Reputation. More information on how Microsoft technologies can keep you secure can be found here.

While the Internet is an amazing resource in terms of the information you can find and things you can do today, it’s important to also be smart about how you browse. A browser can be a great tool in helping you stay safe when you go online.

Most online attacks fall into one of the three situations:

1. Malware that relies on social engineering to spread

2. Attacks directed against your browser or your operating system

3. Attacks directed towards the websites you visit

Let me spend some time describing what I mean by each of these, and also how Internet Explorer can help protect you from each of these types of attacks.

Helping Protect You from Socially Engineered Attacks

A term that you may hear on occasion within the security realm is “socially engineered attacks.” What this means is an attacker uses clever techniques to get you to lower your guard and trick you into doing something that makes you vulnerable to an attack. The idea here is that they aren’t looking for weaknesses in code; rather, they’re trying to fool you into a trap.

The ways in which we see this play out are varied; it may be that you get spam – that is to say an email from a fake bank that actually takes you to a malicious site, or an email supposedly from a friend that encourages you to download a file which may contain malware. To help keep you safe from such types of attacks, Internet Explorer comes with the Smart Screen filter technology, which has been improved even more with Internet Explorer 9. SmartScreen makes it harder for someone to trick you into opening a malicious page, or con you with a phishing site. This technology checks to see if the site you’re visiting is suspected of hosting malicious code and subsequently prevents you from continuing on to that page. Internet Explorer 9 goes one step further by warning you only when you download applications that may be of higher risk.

Technologies like this can make a big difference in helping to keep you safe online. In December, NSS Labs reported that Internet Explorer offers the best protection against the spread of socially-engineered malware. As you can see in the below chart, Internet Explorer 8 (90%) and Internet Explorer 9 (99%) offer significantly more protection than other browsers.

Mitigating Attacks on Your Browser and PC

Internet Explorer also helps protect against deliberate attacks where bad code is hosted on a site that is designed to exploit weaknesses in the software on your PC. Among all the lines of code that make up software, there can be vulnerabilities. The Internet Explorer team designed its browser with security in mind, and in comparison to other browsers, Internet Explorer has fewer vulnerabilities. The chart below illustrates the number of publicly known vulnerabilities in 2010 divided by each browser, according to the National Vulnerability Database.

*Data source: National Vulnerability Database. Data is based upon the most recently shipped versions available during this time period. In the case of Chrome, versions 5, 6, 7, & 8 were all released during this time period.

At Microsoft, products are built with a secure-by-design approach, where security is designed into the product from the ground up. The result of this effort is a browser that includes specific features to help people stay secure and technologies that help insulate the browser against exploits. In addition to Microsoft’s security processes, which includes the Security Development Lifecycle, Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP), and monthly security bulletins, some ways in which you might see this at a product level include features such as Protected Mode, Data Execution Prevention, and many others, both in Internet Explorer 8, and the soon to be released Internet Explorer 9.

Protecting Against the Compromised Websites

This last scenario is when an attacker that has compromised a site that you visit in a way that interferes with how your browser relates to the site. This type of an attack is called a cross-site scripting attack. In this instance, an attacker gets an unsuspecting server to load special code on your browser that allows the attacker to do anything from monitoring your keystrokes to performing actions on your behalf on the site. Internet Explorer has built in a Cross-Site Script Filter that makes such attacks more difficult and helps protect you.

The upcoming release of Internet Explorer 9 contains even more features designed to help keep you safer such as ActiveX Filtering and Application Reputation. More information on how Microsoft technologies can keep you secure can be found here.

Posted on half of Pete LePage on the Internet Explorer team.

Protecting Windows customers is an absolute priority for the Internet Explorer engineering team.  That’s why we work hard to make sure our browser has some of the best safety and privacy features available today.  We’ve spent a lot of time talking about some of the more visible safety and privacy features like our SmartScreen Filter, that protects users from socially engineered malware and phishing attacks; or the InPrivate features that put you in control of how you share your information.

But there are a number of other features that aren’t as visible and help prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited, though some are only available on newer platforms like Windows Vista or Windows 7.  For example, Protected Mode helps ensure exploited code cannot access system or other resources.  Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)helps prevent attackers from getting memory addresses to use in buffer overflow situations.  Data Execution Prevention (DEP) helps to foil attacks by preventing code from running in memory that is marked non-executable.  These defense in depth protections are designed to make it significantly harder for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. 

One way to think about what defense in depth techniques do is similar to the features offered by fire-proof safes that make them last longer in a fire.  Without defense in depth techniques, a fire-proof safe may only protect its contents for an hour or two.  A stronger fire-proof safe with several defense in depth features still won’t guarantee the valuables forever, but adds significant time and protection to how long the contents will last.

Recently, there has been some news from some security researchers about how they’ve managed to bypass DEP or ASLR in Internet Explorer (and Firefox as well).  But like the fire-proof safe example above, defense in depth techniques aren’t designed to prevent every attack forever, but to instead make it significantly harder to exploit a vulnerability.  Defense in depth features, including DEP and ASLR continue to be highly effective protection mechanisms.

Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 helps protect users with all of these defense in depth features, and there is nothing that you have to do to enable them – they’re on by default.  That’s one of the reasons why we encourage users to make sure they’re running the latest and most up-to-date software.

Posted on half of Pete LePage on the Internet Explorer team.

Protecting Windows customers is an absolute priority for the Internet Explorer engineering team.  That’s why we work hard to make sure our browser has some of the best safety and privacy features available today.  We’ve spent a lot of time talking about some of the more visible safety and privacy features like our SmartScreen Filter, that protects users from socially engineered malware and phishing attacks; or the InPrivate features that put you in control of how you share your information.

But there are a number of other features that aren’t as visible and help prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited, though some are only available on newer platforms like Windows Vista or Windows 7.  For example, Protected Mode helps ensure exploited code cannot access system or other resources.  Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)helps prevent attackers from getting memory addresses to use in buffer overflow situations.  Data Execution Prevention (DEP) helps to foil attacks by preventing code from running in memory that is marked non-executable.  These defense in depth protections are designed to make it significantly harder for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. 

One way to think about what defense in depth techniques do is similar to the features offered by fire-proof safes that make them last longer in a fire.  Without defense in depth techniques, a fire-proof safe may only protect its contents for an hour or two.  A stronger fire-proof safe with several defense in depth features still won’t guarantee the valuables forever, but adds significant time and protection to how long the contents will last.

Recently, there has been some news from some security researchers about how they’ve managed to bypass DEP or ASLR in Internet Explorer (and Firefox as well).  But like the fire-proof safe example above, defense in depth techniques aren’t designed to prevent every attack forever, but to instead make it significantly harder to exploit a vulnerability.  Defense in depth features, including DEP and ASLR continue to be highly effective protection mechanisms.

Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 helps protect users with all of these defense in depth features, and there is nothing that you have to do to enable them – they’re on by default.  That’s one of the reasons why we encourage users to make sure they’re running the latest and most up-to-date software.

Posted on half of Pete LePage on the Internet Explorer team.

Protecting Windows customers is an absolute priority for the Internet Explorer engineering team.  That’s why we work hard to make sure our browser has some of the best safety and privacy features available today.  We’ve spent a lot of time talking about some of the more visible safety and privacy features like our SmartScreen Filter, that protects users from socially engineered malware and phishing attacks; or the InPrivate features that put you in control of how you share your information.

But there are a number of other features that aren’t as visible and help prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited, though some are only available on newer platforms like Windows Vista or Windows 7.  For example, Protected Mode helps ensure exploited code cannot access system or other resources.  Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)helps prevent attackers from getting memory addresses to use in buffer overflow situations.  Data Execution Prevention (DEP) helps to foil attacks by preventing code from running in memory that is marked non-executable.  These defense in depth protections are designed to make it significantly harder for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. 

One way to think about what defense in depth techniques do is similar to the features offered by fire-proof safes that make them last longer in a fire.  Without defense in depth techniques, a fire-proof safe may only protect its contents for an hour or two.  A stronger fire-proof safe with several defense in depth features still won’t guarantee the valuables forever, but adds significant time and protection to how long the contents will last.

Recently, there has been some news from some security researchers about how they’ve managed to bypass DEP or ASLR in Internet Explorer (and Firefox as well).  But like the fire-proof safe example above, defense in depth techniques aren’t designed to prevent every attack forever, but to instead make it significantly harder to exploit a vulnerability.  Defense in depth features, including DEP and ASLR continue to be highly effective protection mechanisms.

Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 helps protect users with all of these defense in depth features, and there is nothing that you have to do to enable them – they’re on by default.  That’s one of the reasons why we encourage users to make sure they’re running the latest and most up-to-date software.

Now that Windows 7 is available, a recent blog by Chester Wisnieski (who works at security vendor Sophos), entitled Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses, which has stirred some interest.

Here’s a quick summary for those who missed Chester’s blog. During a test SophosLabs conducted, they subjected Windows 7 to “10 unique [malware] samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed.” They utilized a clean install of Windows 7, using default settings (including the UAC defaults), but did not install any anti-virus software. The end result was 8 of the 10 malware samples successfully ran and the blog proclaims that “Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows.” Chester’s final conclusion? “You still need to run anti-virus on Windows 7.” Well, we agree: users of any computer, on any platform, should run anti-virus software, including those running Windows 7.

Clearly, the findings of this unofficial test are by no means conclusive, and several members of the press have picked apart the findings, so I don’t need to do that. I’m a firm believer that if you run unknown code on your machine, bad things can happen. This test shows just that; however, most people don’t knowingly have and run known malware on their system. Malware typically makes it onto a system through other avenues like the browser or email program. So while I absolutely agree that anti-virus software is essential to protecting your PC, there are other defenses as well.

Let me recap some of the Windows 7 security basics. Windows 7 is built upon the security platform of Windows Vista, which included a defense-in-depth approach to help protect customers from malware. This includes features like User Account Control (UAC), Kernel Patch Protection, Windows Service Hardening, Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), and Data Execution Prevention (DEP) to name just a few. The result, Windows 7 retains and refines the development processes, including going through the Security Development Lifecycle, and technologies that made Windows Vista the most secure Windows operating system ever released.

Beyond the core security of Windows 7, we have also done a lot of work with Windows 7 to make it harder for malware to reach a user’s PCs in the first place. One of my favorite new features is the SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer 8. The SmartScreen Filter was built upon the phishing protection in Internet Explorer 7 and (among other new benefits) adds protection from malware. The SmartScreen Filter will notify you when you attempt to download software that is unsafe – which the SophosLabs methodology totally bypassed in doing their test.

So while I’m not a fan of companies sensationalizing findings about Windows 7 in order to sell more of their own software, I nevertheless agree with them that you still need to run anti-virus software on Windows 7.  This is why we’ve made our Microsoft Security Essentials offering available for free to customers. But it’s also equally important to keep all of your software up to date through automatic updates, such as through the Windows Update service. By configuring your computers to download and install updates automatically you will help ensure that you have the highest level of protection against malware and other vulnerabilities.

Now that Windows 7 is available, a recent blog by Chester Wisnieski (who works at security vendor Sophos), entitled Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses, which has stirred some interest.

Here’s a quick summary for those who missed Chester’s blog. During a test SophosLabs conducted, they subjected Windows 7 to “10 unique [malware] samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed.” They utilized a clean install of Windows 7, using default settings (including the UAC defaults), but did not install any anti-virus software. The end result was 8 of the 10 malware samples successfully ran and the blog proclaims that “Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows.” Chester’s final conclusion? “You still need to run anti-virus on Windows 7.” Well, we agree: users of any computer, on any platform, should run anti-virus software, including those running Windows 7.

Clearly, the findings of this unofficial test are by no means conclusive, and several members of the press have picked apart the findings, so I don’t need to do that. I’m a firm believer that if you run unknown code on your machine, bad things can happen. This test shows just that; however, most people don’t knowingly have and run known malware on their system. Malware typically makes it onto a system through other avenues like the browser or email program. So while I absolutely agree that anti-virus software is essential to protecting your PC, there are other defenses as well.

Let me recap some of the Windows 7 security basics. Windows 7 is built upon the security platform of Windows Vista, which included a defense-in-depth approach to help protect customers from malware. This includes features like User Account Control (UAC), Kernel Patch Protection, Windows Service Hardening, Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), and Data Execution Prevention (DEP) to name just a few. The result, Windows 7 retains and refines the development processes, including going through the Security Development Lifecycle, and technologies that made Windows Vista the most secure Windows operating system ever released.

Beyond the core security of Windows 7, we have also done a lot of work with Windows 7 to make it harder for malware to reach a user’s PCs in the first place. One of my favorite new features is the SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer 8. The SmartScreen Filter was built upon the phishing protection in Internet Explorer 7 and (among other new benefits) adds protection from malware. The SmartScreen Filter will notify you when you attempt to download software that is unsafe – which the SophosLabs methodology totally bypassed in doing their test.

So while I’m not a fan of companies sensationalizing findings about Windows 7 in order to sell more of their own software, I nevertheless agree with them that you still need to run anti-virus software on Windows 7.  This is why we’ve made our Microsoft Security Essentials offering available for free to customers. But it’s also equally important to keep all of your software up to date through automatic updates, such as through the Windows Update service. By configuring your computers to download and install updates automatically you will help ensure that you have the highest level of protection against malware and other vulnerabilities.