Microsoft has confirmed it will give security vendors advance notice of vulnerabilities that it intends to address in its monthly patches, in order to provide users with better safeguards.

Microsoft's Active Protection programme will reduce the chances of cyber criminals outpacing the security professionals, said George Stathakopoulos, Microsoft general manager of security engineering and communications,

It will also issue a new Exploitability Index, which will provide customers with early information on the likelihood of exploit code being developed.

Previously security professionals had to wait for Microsoft’s monthly security update process to address vulnerabilities.

“As security threats become more sophisticated, the global security community must combine its resources and work together to provide maximum security protections to worldwide internet users,” said Stathakopoulos in a statement.