Gates outlines further steps to improve computer security

Gates, the company’s co-founder and chief software architect, also broadly discussed Microsoft’s efforts to improve security in its upcoming Windows Vista operating system and the tech industry’s initiatives aimed at stopping malicious software, hackers and other dangers.

"We’ve all got a common challenge here, yet an amazing opportunity to let these digital systems be used in the broadest way,” Gates said Tuesday at the RSA computer security conference.

Gates highlighted a technology dubbed InfoCard that will help computer users corral their identifying information without running the risk of losing it or having it stolen. It also could be used by companies looking to improve ways of granting access to their networks.

InfoCard is the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s latest attempt at identification and authentication services. The first, Passport, was criticized because Microsoft centrally stored and controlled a single identity that was supposed to be used on sites across the Web. Today, Passport remains mainly a tool for accessing Microsoft’s MSN sites.

InfoCard is more of a container that holds identities — and other information — created and managed by the user and businesses on the Web.

In a demonstration, Microsoft program manager Richard Turner logged into a fictional car rental site simply by clicking on an InfoCard icon on the Web page and choosing an identity for that site. He was automatically logged in without entering a username or password.<