Microsoft To Teach Undergrads About Secure Computing

gcondon writes "The Register is reporting that Microsoft is teaming up with the University of Leeds to teach students how to write secure code. Given the sheer number of programming errors that can lead to security vulnerabilities, it probably makes sense to learn from the company that has tried them all." UndercoverBrotha points out that University of Leeds is one of several venues: "Microsoft is planning to offer 11-week courses at Universities around the world."

Update: 03/24 18:00 GMT by J : Another report worth reading is Writing Software Right, which requires a free but annoying registration at Technology Review. This regards automated methods of finding software errors (not security specifically). Sun's "Jackpot" is discussed, a lint that also "identifies general instances of good or bad programming."

And Microsoft's efforts in this field are explained as well -- the company "paid more than $60 million in 1999 to acquire Intrinsa, maker of a bug-finding tool called Prefix. The program, which sifts through huge swaths of code searching for patterns that match a defined list of common semantic errors, helped find thousands of mistakes in Windows and other Microsoft products." As a Microsoft QA person says, "Our challenge is to get our software to the point that people expect it to work instead of expecting it to fail."

Comments

This just in:

[B3ryllium]

President George W. Bush will be teaching a course in diplomacy ...

Re:This just in:

[Telastyn]

In addition to his regularly scheduled English courses...

Re:This just in:

[PD]

And ramzak2k teaches a course of keeping his nose out of business that does not concern him.

Re:This just in:

[TopShelf]

don't forget the Arthur Andersen Advanced Seminar on Corporate Accounting!

Re:This just in:

[American AC in Paris]

In addition to his regularly scheduled English courses...

Hey, don't knock those courses! They're great!

I've already registrated for his Interemediary English next term!

Re:This just in:

[neafevoc]

Not to mention they chose the shortest month possible from the whole year ;)

Other suggested instructor - course pairings

[isomeme]

• Imelda Marcos, "Financial Responsibility"
• George W. Bush, "Diplomacy and Coalition Building"
• Apple, "Marketing Your Invention" (co-sponsored by Xerox)

Courses?

[sevensharpnine]

Suggested course offerings follow:

CSI1001: Introduction to the necessity of 3rd-party security modules in a Microsoft environment

CSI1002: Trusted++ computing--how to manage your defenseless box on a multi-million node internet

CSI2001: Rapid HotFix/Service Pack deployment

CSI2002: (Continuation of 2001) Rapid HotFix/Service pack undeployment

CSI3001: Microsoft and you--Introspectives on long-term site licensing and vendor lock-in

What's the course textbook?

[MarkGriz]

Secure Computing for Dummies... by Dummies.

Progressive Microsoft

[mabu]

Microsoft's university program is closely linked to its Trustworthy Computing initiative, its companywide focus on securing its products, which was launched early last year.

Hey, check it out. Early last year Microsoft decided it might me worthwhile to secure some of its products.

I hear some time in Summer 2014 Microsoft is going to launch its Memory Leak Awareness Program.

Course Syllabus

[inkswamp]

Week One: The dangers of open source software

Week Two: More dangers of open source software

Week Three: How frequent licensing payments improve security

Week Four: Shhhh... better security means not discussing exploits and security holes

Week Five: How the media exaggerates security issues

Week Six: Did we mention the dangers of open source? Let's review

Week Seven: How to uninstall Linux

Week Eight: Macintosh--the gay-communist connection

Week Nine: (No classes during this week so students can reinstall Windows or do any necessary security patches.)

Week Ten: Trusted computing, i.e., how hypnosis is your friend

Week Eleven: The dangers of open source software revisitted