Windows 10 is 'the most secure operating system, ready for deployment in all enterprise situations' claims Nadella

As fears over cyber terrorism grow, Microsoft wades into the cyber-security conversation

Windows 10 is "the most secure operating system", Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has declared today, speaking at a cyber-security-themed event in Washington DC.

With growing unrest over the demise of Safe Harbour, European privacy regulation changes and last Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, which Chancellor George Osborne has already begun leveraging as a vehicle for his government's proposed data collection policies, Nadella was keen to assure both the consumer and enterprise worlds that Microsoft has the edge over those who would misuse its systems.

He may also have been trying to counter unease about how much data Microsoft itself collects on its users.

"We spend over a billion dollars of R&D a year building security into our mainstream products, because we don't think of security as being a separate piece of technology," said Nadella.

Trust, he maintained, lies at the heart of making customers happy to use cloud and virtualised technology.

"Trust is at the centre of this - it captures our optimism for the future, optimism for how digital technology can play a positive role in every walk of life and every sector of the economy," said Nadella.

"There isn't an aspect of the economy, from retail to healthcare to energy that is not using digital technology today to drive innovation and transform itself. So it's become the core of not just the tech industry, but every industry."

But, said Nadella: "People are not going to use the technology if they can't trust it, and that's why trust to is essential. We're taking a principled approach with strong commitments to make sure that our customers can trust the digital technology they use."

Nadella spoke of Microsoft's "three approaches" to security - building a platform, "complementing" that platform with an "intelligence fabric" allowing reactive services, and finally that Microsoft needs to partner "broadly" with the industry to achieve the other two.

Reminding the audience that Microsoft "updates Windows a billion times per month" (i.e. by separately updating a billion different devices), Nadella claimed that Microsoft also shares its security data - which now covers hardware, software and cloud ecosystems - with the security industry at large.

Microsoft's general manager, Julia White, then showed off some specific Windows 10-based features to back up Nadella's message, including Device Guard, which can combat malware even if it's unknown, by checking not only for valid signatures, but also sign-off from a trusted source.

Credential Guard tackles the so-called "pass the hash" issue, using isolation-based virtualisation to keep credentials from attackers - a "very big leap", White said.

Windows 10 also has the ability to block cut-and-paste options at identity level in individual apps, disallowing the pasting of information from Microsoft Office into an email on iOS, for example.

While Nadella didn't say much new, his concluding boast that Windows 10 is "ready for deployment in all enterprise situations in all operational contexts" was clearly aimed at the many organisations that are still avoiding Windows 10 upgrades until the OS has bedded in.

"In Windows 10 we have great technologies - core security technologies - in fact the virtualisation infrastructure coupled with [the elements White mentioned] is what makes Windows 10 the most secure operating system," concluded Nadella.

Is Microsoft's CEO needlessly goading the black hats of this world into disproving his claims, or is Windows 10 really safe as houses? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.