Admin rights underpin many Windows exploits, analysis finds

[jamescv7]

Organisations could dramatically cut their exposure to vulnerabilities in Microsoft software simply by limiting Windows admin rights, an analysis by BeyondTrust has reminded the world.

Using flaw data drawn from Microsoft’s security bulletins throughout 2010, removing admin rights for users of Office and Internet Explorer would have mitigated security worries in 100 percent of cases.

Overall, of the 256 vulnerabilities published by the company during the year, 163, or 64 percent, would have been mitigated by removing admin rights. On the operating system side, 76 out of 162 flaws could be avoided using the same tactic.

Of the 142 Windows 7 flaws ever made public, 42 percent would be mitigated by removing admin rights.

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[bogdan]

I really like this quote:

Patching alone doesn’t protect the enterprise, because so many vulnerabilities are undiscovered and others could take weeks to patch. Removing administrative privileges from users is the only way to eliminate the vast majority of risk that comes from these vulnerabilities.

 

[iPanik]

I hereby rest my case about LUAs

Realistically speaking, using chrome (for the sandbox), EMET and a LUA makes exploits a non-issue.