What extra security features does windows 8 offer over windows 7? [closed]

Question

What improvements/additions to security have been made to Windows 8 as compared to Windows 7?

Answer 1

Based on information from these articles there have been many improvements:
http://www.askvg.com/windows-8-comes-with-security-improvements-to-protect-you-from-malware/
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/what-windows-8-has-done-to-improve-security/8269
Link

Microsoft use better practices when developing code:

Microsoft uses the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) to build Windows with the best security design, development and testing practices available.

MS have worked to reduce the likelihood of attacks.

Windows 8 includes mitigation enhancements that further reduce the likelihood of common attacks.

Windows defender is improved.

Windows 8 will also provide you protection with a significantly improved version of Windows Defender. The improvements to Windows Defender will help protect you from all types of malware, including viruses, worms, bots and rootkits by using the complete set of malware signatures from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center

Protections are in place to stop malware that effects parts of the boot process (called SecureBoot).

When you use a PC that supports UEFI-based Secure Boot, Windows secured boot will help ensure that all firmware and firmware updates are secure, and that the entire Windows boot path up to the antimalware driver has not been tampered with.

SmartScreen has been improved.

Windows 8 will help protect you with reputation-based technologies when launching applications as well as browsing with Internet Explorer.

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Summary:

In conclusion, we’ve taken a very broad approach to improving the level of protection you’ll get from malware in Windows 8, including the use of SDL processes to be secure by design, the implementation and upgrading of mitigations to help protect you against exploits used by malware, improvements to Windows Defender to provide you with real-time protection against all categories of malware, and the use of URL and application reputation to help protect you against social engineering attacks.

Answer 2

Well first off, there is UEFI to protect the pre-OS environment.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is managed through the UEFI forum, a collection of chipset, hardware, system, firmware, and operating system vendors. The forum maintains specifications, test tools, and reference implementations that are used across many UEFI PCs.

You can read this post on how security has been improved since Windows XP. Smart Screen is now enabled for apps too.

A major improvement is the fact that Flash is now managed by Windows Update, flash is buggy and with it under Windows Update, it's a little more safe.

It should also be noted that a new version of Windows Defender is included and it includes the features of Microsoft Security Essentials(it's awesome).