Discover new security technology for the Microsoft Windows platform—Microsoft's Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB)—another way Microsoft is building a trustworthy computing environment to help customers realize their full potential.

NGSCB will be included in a future version of the Windows operating system. Employing a unique hardware and software architecture, NGSCB will create a protected computing environment inside of a Windows PC—a "virtual vault" that will sit side by side with the regular Windows environment to enable new kinds of security and privacy protections for computers. Among the benefits:

• Critical programs are visible and in the user's control

• Programs and computers can "prove" themselves to each other (even over networks) before engaging in communications and transactions, ensuring a safe environment before exposing critical data

• Important information can be stored so that only the program that created it can access it, protecting it from loss due to theft or viruses

• Personal information can be distributed so that it can only be used by entities the user authorizes, ensuring that data will remain safe during a remote transaction

• Data can be protected with a secure pathway from the keyboard through the computer to the monitor screen, preventing it from being secretly intercepted or spied on

NGSCB technologies will help provide better system integrity, information security, and personal privacy and will offer a solid foundation for user trust: a basis on which privacy- and security-sensitive hardware and software can interact with greater integrity.