The Microsoft verification tool highlights changes in system state, runtime parameters and securable objects on the Windows operating system. This analysis helps developers, testers and IT professionals identify increases in the attack surface caused by installing applications on a machine, Microsoft said.
The tool takes snapshots of an organization's system and compares ("diffing") these to identify changes.
Microsoft uses the Attack Surface Analyzer beta for the verification phase of its Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). By making the tool available, Microsoft hopes developers will be able to use it to verify that they have built and deployed their applications in accordance with Microsoft's SDL guidelines.
This story was first published by Computer Weekly