Security Research: a look back and a look ahead

A great deal of research on security has taken place within Microsoft over the years. Often the research spans multiple areas, and quite often multiple labs, in cooperation with product groups and with colleagues in academia. This is actually a plus for the research. Martin Abadi, principal researcher, Microsoft Research Silicon Valley provides an introspective look at the scope and of the character of security research, focusing on a few recent examples from the Silicon Valley lab. And he looks to the future and how research plays an essential role in building defenses that must continually evolve to contend with a world where computing and computing systems are always changing—and so are the nature of attacks.