IT professionals face a formidable challenge today in protecting their clients from a broad range of evolving security threats in a highly networked environment. Threats appear faster, are more advanced, and are increasingly motivated by financial gain. Employees and partners, meanwhile, demand increasing levels of functionality from multiple points of access, expanding the potential threat surface area.

This white paper describes this dynamic threat landscape. It briefly discusses the best-practices approach to providing security for organizations and then outlines the layered, integrated Microsoft approach to securing clients, making use of existing IT investments and simplifying administration. Appendices describe related Microsoft offerings and provide additional resources.