The Windows NT Distributed Security Services Technology preview provides flexible solutions for building secure, scalable distributed applications. Security administration and management will have richer features for delegation and fine-grain account control. The next version of the Windows NT Directory Service will support domains with a much higher number of accounts in a structured naming environment of Organizational Units. Inter-domain trust management is simpler, providing greater flexibility to use domains in ways that reflect the needs of the Enterprise.
Windows NT security APIs for network authentication, data privacy, digital signatures, and encryption, supports secure application development for the Enterprise and the Internet. The SSPI and CryptoAPI interfaces, as well as higher-level COM and DCOM interface abstractions, make all of the integrated security features of Windows NT available for applications to use. The robust security architecture of Windows NT is used consistently across all system components and will be extended to support strong authentication and public-key security. These features are unmatched by any other distributed application platform available today.
Windows NT Distributed Security integrates mature Internet standards for authentication, while at the same time introducing new public-key security technology based on the direction of the industry and available standards. Many of the Internet public-key security standards are still forming. Microsoft is involved in the development of these standards but recognizes they are likely change over time. The Windows NT security architecture is specifically designed to incorporate new security technology, in the form of protocols, cryptographic service providers, or third-party authentication technology. Customers deploying Windows NT have choices about what security technology to use, how to integrate security into their application environment with minimum impact, and when to migrate to new technology as it becomes available.
The Windows NT Distributed Security Services Technology preview provides the foundation for secure Internet distributed computing.