Even with the attacks described in the paper, Windows Vista has many worthwhile security improvements compared to Windows XP. Stories suggesting that Vista’s security is now irredeemably broken are far off the mark; the truth is merely that some of its automatic security protection is less effective than it was before.

The attacks take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture. The new techniques are being seen as an advance that many in the security community say will have far-reaching implications not only for Microsoft, but also on how the entire technology industry thinks about attacks.