War room sign

A good deal of Microsoft's current security practices can be traced to painful lessons learned over the past 10 years. Microsoft's Security Response Center, at company headquarters in Redmond, Wash., grew out of those lessons.

Shown here, a sign outside Microsoft's twin security "war rooms" marks the way. One room is for handling the technical work of bug hunting, while the other focuses on what to say to customers and the public. A door connects the two rooms.