From NSA Information Assurance Director Richard Shaeffer's testimony to the Senate Judiciary's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security:

"Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to engance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks …. All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later during the product's lifecycle."

link here

"Cybersecurity: Preventing Terrorist Attacks and Protecting Privacy in Cyberspace" Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security (17 November).

This isn't new, Whitelaw explains, because the NSA has been collaborating with Microsoft since 2005. link here

Schaeffer said that the NSA is also working to engage other companies, including Apple, Sun, and RedHat, on security standards for their products. The agency also works with computer security firms such as Symantec, McAfee, and Intel.

link here