New research dissects the initial exploit and malware used in the attack against RSA concludes that Windows’ Data Execution Prevention (DEP) would have halted the attack if the victims were on Windows 7 machines. DEP, which is built into Windows 7 and available for Vista and XP SP2, would have stopped the exploit in its tracks, says Rodrigo Rubira Branco, director of Qualys’ Vulnerability & Malware Research Labs, who tested the exploit and published his results today. He says digging into the original phishing email and rigged Excel attachment helped confirm the theory that the attackers wanted access to U.S. military contractors not RSA itself.”]