A viral one-two punch--the Code Red and Nimda worms--convinced Microsoft in mid-2001 that security needed to become its top priority. That decision led directly to the creation of the company's Trustworthy Computing initiative.
Company Chairman Bill Gates laid the groundwork for the program with an ambitious memo in January 2002 to employees, challenging them to improve the privacy and security of Microsoft software. The company subsequently halted much of its product development while about 8,500 developers were trained in secure programming and then reviewed the majority of the Windows code for security errors. Microsoft says the entire effort cost some $100 million.
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