Driver Security and Reliability

Driver Security and Reliability

Software security and reliability is everybody's job. Those of us who write drivers have a special responsibility because our code runs in the trusted kernel. When our code crashes, it usually takes the whole system with it. When our code has a trap door, a hacker can squeeze through to take over the whole system and, perhaps, the enterprise it serves. It behooves all of us to take these issues seriously. If we don't, real people can suffer economic and physical injury.

Because of the seriousness of security issues in driver programming, this edition uses a special icon to highlight areas that are especially important to driver reliability and security.

The Driver Verifier component of the operating system performs a variety of checks on a driver if we ask it to. The Windows Hardware Quality Laboratory (WHQL) will run your driver with all sorts of Driver Verifier tests enabled, so you might as well beat them to it by enabling Driver Verifier as soon as your driver is minimally functional. We'll use this icon to mark discussions of how the Driver Verifier can help you debug your driver.