Slashdot Mirror
Former MS Security Strategist Joins Mozilla
Handset writes "Former Microsoft security strategist Window Snyder is joining Mozilla to lead the company's effort to protect its range of desktop applications from malicious hacker attacks. eweek.com reports that Snyder, who was responsible for security sign-off for Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003, will spearhead Mozilla's security strategy and improve its communications with external hackers and bug finders."
a human trojan has been inserted into Mozilla?
glad Safari uses the khtml engine...
Will the Mozilla fans throw their arms up in disgust (An MS Security expert - that's a contradiction!) or will they suddenly be supportive of someone they have effectively been bagging for years? (An MS Security expert for Mozilla! - what a coup!)
dnuof eruc rof aixelsid
hooray..lets have it...chairs all around..here you go..two for you...Redmond Cherry or Vista White?
Hey, I am for security and all, but somebody needs to call the phone numbers on his resume. I heard that Microsoft doesn't have a "security" department.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
We can draw two possible conclusions from this. Either a: MS' security team was made of good people who were doing the best they could for such a large project with such a large user base and extensive backwards compatability, and thus that Windows security was the best it could have been (even if that wasn't so good). Or Mozilla's security is going to go down the tubes. It's a slashdot paradox! Clearly we can't grant #1, because that wouldn't be sufficiently critical of MS, but be can't grant #2 either because we love Mozilla. I'm just glad Mozilla doesn't think this way.
Philosophy.
Cmon Slashdot, a guy from Microsoft whose first name is "Window" and had a job implementing security at Microsoft??? These April Fools jokes get dumber every year.
Hmm...."former"...."security" strategist...
Uhuh. Sure. Whatever you say.
I think I'll grab a copy of the source code now...
*Dons tin foil hat*
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
This has to be a joke. Microsoft actually employed a named Window S. ??
In a related story, Heat Miser has joined the fire department.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Is he required to change his name to Mozilla Snyder now?
Sorry.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
"Mozilla security practices are rubbish"
Someday you might realize that you don't define a great security system by how much you have to patch gaping holes in it.
Where were you when the voynix came?
First thing that popped into my head was the new Mozilla security slogan.
"We're not going to take it! NO! We ain't gonna take it! We're not going to take it, anymore!"
Task Mangler
Er, eh, not that influences my perception of her value to the Mozilla corp at all...
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
...had to be a product of hippie parents.
I'd imagine his parents would have just completed the conception of Window and his father stumbled to his feet in a drug induced stupor and suddenly had an idea of what to name their recently created progeny as his eyes came into focus on the first thing he saw, exclaiming "Babe! I just thought of a awesome name for our kid...."
Just a thought.
...to drop Firefox. Great strategy!
Window's an old friend of mine, so let me be the first to congratulate her here. W00t!
So the security world used to be pretty hostile to MS, before, you know, XPSP2, MSRC got taken seriously, etc. Window showed up before all of that, and pretty much took our abuse year in, year out. And then...things got better.
She'll deny any direct cause and effect there, but she was _the_ interface between Microsoft and the various security cons for quite some time, and I think at least some of the reason we got certain concessions (like 24 hour response time out of MSRC) is that she was there to hear people say things like "I dunno, why should I warn MS, they're just gonna sit on it anyway."
Firefox is not without problems (understatement). I'm looking forward to seeing what Window can accomplish w/ Mozilla.
Coming soon to Mozilla: ActiveM plug-ins! Now with the exciting "FORMAT C:" functionality, and complete integration with BOTH kinds of email software - Outlook AND Outlook Express!
I have discovered a truly remarkable
WTF is this? most of the first dozen or two posts are aimed ot be (and are modded) funny. I thought this was supposed to a forum for serious discussion, not a fucking comedy club wanna-be.
if they're not already married to other people, Window and Linus need to get married. They could even name their first child Lindow.
You can't say that this captain hasn't been through a shipwreck.
A Microsoft employee called Window? Why, that's like an ice cream man named Cone!
"It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
So the security world used to be pretty hostile to MS, before, you know, XPSP2, MSRC got taken seriously, etc.
Used to be? Maybe you see a different view of them when they hire you for security consulting and fly you out for their Blue Hat conferences and such. But from my outsider perspective, Microsoft is still a security disaster. Not only have we continued to see hundreds of serious vulnerabilities throughout 2006, but MS has in many cases made us wait weeks or months before patching widely exploited bugs. Heck, another actively exploited MS Office vulnerability was just discovered in the wild. If we're lucky, MS will cough up a patch on September 12, otherwise they'll probably leave users vulnerable until the next "patch Tuesday" on October 10.
Meanwhile, Microsoft recently re-issued MS06-042 with a fix for a vulnerability introduced by their first attempted fix. And they openly admit that they excluded eEye from the advisory credits because eEye embarrassed MS by making their incompetence public. MS is more interested in petty vendetas against researches than actually fixing the flaws.
Microsoft has made a few positive steps toward securing their products in that last couple of years, but I think most of their efforts and successes are more in the PR realm than anything with technical merit. They have spent so much money sponsoring conferences (their money does come with strings attached) and paying off security researches, that many people seem reluctant to criticize them.
OK, enough anti-MS ranting from me for now :). My main point in
replying is actually to agree with you about Window. She is extremely
smart and talented, and her defection to Mozilla is great news for a
product which really needs more security
attention. We had lunch last week to discuss Mozilla security and Window has some great ideas. Mozilla may already be much more secure than IE, but we should set a much higher bar than that! Best of luck at your new position, Window!
-Fyodor
Insecure.Org
A few points:
(1) Shit happens, including regressions. Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, it should have been caught. Nonetheless, shit happens.
(2) It's none of your business who was responsible. Are you some kind of stalker?
(3) The Mozilla team can handle their own internal affairs just fine, I imagine.
(4) You can always not use Mozilla products.
(5) I'm pretty sure I've been trolled, but what the hell, I haven't responded to a troll for a while. Then again, I haven't trolled for a while, either:
(6) Does having Snyder mean we'll see a need for Symantec, McAfee, etc. products for Mozilla just to keep the malware away? That's what we need for Microsoft products...
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
She (not he!) is such a babe, I could ALMOST forgive her for being named after Microsoft's flagship product!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
What could *Microsoft* teach Mozilla about security...
that is, other than what _not_ to do!!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Lets not beat around the bushes.
MS has an image problem when it comes to security, it is a problem of their own making, acknoledged by Mr Gates himself and experienced day in day out with their prodcuts by IT professionals.
Dig a bit deeper and you realize that security is still not properly realized in MS products. AD is a mess waiting to get worst for example.
I don't care how wonderful SP2 was, that is a drop in an ocean of incompetence and procastination.
I don't know what the Mozilla organization was thinking. Sometimes you have to take care of the PR situation as well as the technical side of things. Anybody that has worked recently around security in MS products will carry a credibility problem, specially in a highly visible position.
I am sure that this lady is bright, intelligent and all what his pals say lovingly about her, but she brings with her a credibility problem which becomes all too evident when one reads all the comments on this thread (which are mostly bad jokes, but that drive the same point home: we can't believe it).
Lets hope that this is a good move, but I think people should be excused for the healthy doses of skepticism.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Former Chernoybl saftey inspector joins Three Mile Island team...
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?