What Spooks Microsoft's Chief Security Advisor

alphadogg writes "Microsoft's U.S. general manager/chief security advisor for its National Security Team, Bret Arsenault, thinks like a true security professional. In every bit of good news, he wonders what bad news could be coming. Application security, virtualization security and the fact that over half of computer attacks seen by Microsoft come from the .edu domain are just some of the things keeping him up at night."

Comments

Re:students sharpening their pens

[hostyle]

Fatter pipes are bigger targets to would-be evildoers, as it gives them more bandwidth with which to carry out their nefarious deeds. That makes a rooted .edu box almost as important a component of Dr. Evil In Trainings' arsenal as a hollowed out volcano island.

Re:Computer Security what is a crime and what isn'

[Jason Levine]

I guess I'm just a "goody two shoes." When I was growing up, I never stole a pack of gum (or anything else) from a store. I never carved my name in a tree or participated in vandalizing something at all (much less as a "form of expression"). My motivations in my youth had nothing to do with mischief. I did experiment with computers, but they were my own computers or they were the school's and I was acting within the limits of my classroom activities. For example, when asked to program a slot machine program on an old Apple IIe, I finished *way* before everyone else. So I started adding in more features. I added in betting, and still people weren't done. So then I added in a mobster that you could borrow money from if you were broke. (I coded it so that you either paid him back in a certain number of turns or he broke an arm and a leg of yours, took all of your money, and the game ended.) I was exploring the limits of what my coding could do, but it was without causing harm/damage to someone else's property.