Microsoft teaches PC makers on security

Microsoft is teaching PC makers its security practices.

The software giant is giving details of its Security Development Lifecycle to experts from computer hardware companies at a multiday event in Redmond, Wash., Michael Howard a senior security program manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post Tuesday night.

"As part of our ongoing SDL efforts, we are hosting a 2.5 day event here in Redmond for our OEM partners-–over 50 senior technical experts from the biggest names in the computer industry," Howard wrote.

The SDL is a Microsoft process designed to prevent flaws and vet code before it ships. The software giant has been spreading the SDL gospel in the hope of getting others to adopt similar guidelines.

The event is attracting people from chipmakers and component manufacturers, Howard wrote. Microsoft is presenting the same content that its own engineers get on a variety of SDL topics, he wrote.

The first day, Tuesday, included an introduction, sessions on threat modeling and secure coding and a closing session on the "hacker viewpoint" by noted security researcher Dan Kaminsky, Howard wrote. Day two, Wednesday, will include testing and verification sessions, he wrote.