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CHAPTER 5
Security and privacy in Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 10 is far more effective than its predecessors when it comes to protecting your
organization and your users from common and not-so-common threats. That shouldn’t come as
a surprise, of course. Since the Trustworthy Computing initiative in 2002, each new version of Windows
has introduced significant security enhancements.
Most casual observers see the obvious manifestations of security, in the form of features that have
a visible set of controls or warnings, such as Windows Defender and the SmartScreen filter that blocks
potentially dangerous downloads. Windows 10 also enables crucial security features in layers that you
can’t see, specifically hardware-based protection, which operates before Windows loads, and networkbased
security capabilities that can be defined and enforced by administrators using Group Policy and
management tools.
Windows 10 also includes a new, potentially game-changing security feature that has the potential to
eliminate the weakest link in present-day computer security. The new identity features in Windows 10,
built around sophisticated biometric sensors and easy-to-use multifactor authentication, can completely
replace passwords, eliminating an entire class of security threats.
And in an age where a new data breach seems to make the news every week, concerns over privacy
are increasingly common. To make “Windows as a Service” possible, Windows 10 collects diagnostic
and analytic data from PCs, including information about device capabilities, error reporting, and usage
statistics.
In this chapter, I offer an overview of the multiple layers of security in Windows 10 and detail your
privacy options for individual PCs and managed networks.
The evolution of the threat landscape
Computer security experts like to talk about the “threat landscape,” a wide-ranging and constantly
evolving set of ways that malicious outsiders can attack devices and networks. In the past, hackers
were motivated by personal fame and bragging rights. Today, organized criminal gangs have turned
cyber attacks into big business, transforming their victims’ misery into profits with ransomware, click
fraud, and identity theft. Politically motivated attackers might be more interested in stealing secrets
or causing damage and disruption.
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