MALAYSIAN organisations are advised to gear up and get their information systems into a security baseline as Internet security, which is fundamentally important to the way business is conducted in the digital age, is fast becoming a worldwide issue.

Microsoft Corp's security group chief security officer Howard A. Schmidt said the matter needs to be highlighted as security vulnerabilities and viruses are a serious, costly, industry-wide problem.

"The threat model in terms of Internet security has changed over the last three years. Today, perpetrators are taking advantage of features in software to create viruses that will attack information systems," he said in Petaling Jaya last Thursday.

As such, Schmidt said Microsoft is stepping up its efforts to ensure the security of customers' network and businesses by introducing an initiative called the Strategic Technology Protection Programme (STPP). Launched earlier in the United States, the programme is intended for Microsoft to proactively assist customers of any size to secure their computing environment.

Now available locally, the programme is divided into two phases: the first, Get Secure, includes free virus-related product support, a new online security tool kit with a lockdown tool for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server's Internet Information Services (IIS), and the extensive customer outreach via Microsoft world resource.

The second and longer term phase of the programme, Stay Secure, provides customers with the tools, technologies and resources to stay secure.

As part of the Stay Secure phase, Microsoft will deliver the next version of IIS locked down by default, providing customers with an automated tool to customise and secure IIS to meet their individual business computing needs.

Microsoft (M) Sdn Bhd, which kicked off the STPP with a security symposium, will be conducting technical hands-on seminars as part of the programme. These topic-specific seminars will be held at the Microsoft Auditorium in Petaling Jaya for the public, and at six of its Certified Technical Education Centres located around the Klang Valley for enterprise customers.