Summary

We should now have a full understanding of the principle of Least Privilege Security and its implementation in Windows, from the early days of no real security in consumer editions of the operation system to today's push towards Least Privilege Security in Windows 7. Before proceeding to the next chapter, we have:

• Understood how system privileges are used to control the aspects of an operating system's configuration that users can change
• Familiarized ourselves with the principle of Least Privilege Security, and how it is implemented in different versions of Microsoft Windows
• Become aware of the technical advantages and disadvantages that Least Privilege Security brings to desktop computing
• Understood the business benefits of Least Privilege Security on the desktop

In the next chapter, we will move on temporarily from the technical aspects of implementing Least Privilege Security on the desktop, to talk about the cultural and political challenges, which for many can be harder to overcome.