Cybersecurity depends on partnership

In the world of cybersecurity, partnerships are of much importance. Cybersecurity companies partner among themselves to share data and help each other build stronger security solutions that can better protect their users. They also partner with law enforcement agencies to fight cybercrime. Partnerships with software developers are equally important, because security solutions have to work smoothly with other software, especially with operating systems.

That, of course, can be easily achieved if the operating system vendor creates its own, fully compatible security solution. However, having just one security solution for each operating system is not healthy: The market has to be diverse to ensure that cybercriminals don’t only have to try to elude a single security solution. So, partnerships and diversity go hand in hand. And it’s especially beneficial when that diversity is supported by the OS developer.

Microsoft has announced today that it is addressing the concerns we recently raised with select governing organizations in Russia and Europe. We are grateful Microsoft is addressing these issues completely, making sure that both partnerships and diversity are preserved on the market for both user and industry benefit.

These changes will include Microsoft providing cybersecurity developers more time to prepare for upcoming Windows updates as well as receive the final Windows builds earlier. This action will allow vendors to test every aspect of their security solutions’ behavior in the new version of the operating system, prior to its release, to ensure excellent compatibility. The more your security solution is compatible with your operating system, the less it affects performance and stability.

That also means that there should be no switch-offs due to incompatibility issues. If you’ve paid for a security solution, you can expect it to be updated on time, so that it can work smoothly with all the OS updates you install.

Another important point that will make users’ security better is the fact that in Windows 10, cybersecurity companies are now allowed to show their own notifications to help users renew security solutions licenses before and after they have expired. Keeping the security solution and its databases (which are not renewed after the license has expired) up to date is absolutely necessary to ensure a strong level of protection, so these notifications have to be unmissable.

The users will also receive clear communication about which security solution they are turning on and what the consequences are of that action. The toast notification is now replaced with a persistent notification, which will remain on the screen until the user chooses to either renew the security solutions’ license or rely on another security solution. Users deserve to be fully aware and in control of what’s actually happening on their devices in terms of security, and Microsoft has given this control to them.

All of these changes are aimed at making the user experience with security solutions in Windows 10 better.

We are absolutely satisfied with the changes that will be implemented in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, and we will be taking all necessary steps to withdraw our claims and inform all regulatory bodies that we no longer have any matters for Microsoft to address.

We have a long history of cooperation with Microsoft, and we sincerely believe that these changes will make the cybersecurity market healthier, resulting in better protection for all users. Protecting information and the data that matters most to our users remains our primary goal.