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

students sharpening their pens

[ionix5891]

half of computer attacks seen by Microsoft come from the .edu domain

nothing to worry just students testing their scripts against big bad microsoft :) we all did it at one stage ;)

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:students sharpening their pens

[an.echte.trilingue]

True. Students usually have time on their hands, knowledge at their disposal and being young they still have an underdeveloped sense for the potential consequences of their actions. Oh, and T1 connections directly into the dorms. Just talk to somebody who administers a university network: trying to keep students from "playing" with the school infrastructure is a nightmare.

Re:students sharpening their pens

[Anonymous Coward]

unless you're at MIT chances are you're starved for bandwidth and have to sleep during the day and game all night to get any decent pings. You don't get very good grades, do you?

Re:students sharpening their pens

[Bert64]

Home connections still have fairly poor upstream compared to their downstream...
People who root boxes want upstream, so they can scan for more boxes to hack, ddos things or distribute malware. They typically have very little need for downstream bandwidth to the compromised boxes.

Cleaner Version

[Anonymous Coward]

Without all of the ads. Won't someone please think of my eyes?

Re:Punishment needs to fit the crime

[Anonymous Coward]

That's quite the straw man... and it seems to be singing something...

*listens in*

"If I only had a brain..."

Q&A

[cerberusss]

Question: What do you think about Microsoft's U.S. general manager/chief security advisor?
Answer: I think it would be a good idea.

What Spooks Microsoft's Chief Security Advisor

[somethingwicked]

What Spooks Microsoft's Chief Security Advisor?

Flying chairs?

Computer Security what is a crime and what isn't?

[mlwmohawk]

I hear a lot of people make the analogy that computer breaches are like breaking and entering, and while some of the actions are, some are clearly not.

Mischief is the motivation of youth. Vandalism is a form of expression. We've all participated in it in some form, so everyone get off their high horse, and rather than "get tough on crime," its time to figure out the difference between kids having fun and serious criminals. It is also time to make computer systems in "the digital world" as resilient to mischief and vandalism as real physical buildings are in the real world.

We've all carved our names in a tree in a park. We've all stolen a pack of gum or something from a store. We've all done petty crimes when we were young. The difference in the digital world is that everything is so brittle and poorly built and the mischief that is expected from youth ends up costing companies [B|M]illions of dollars. In the classic movie, "War Games," a kid practically starts world war III, the analogy fits if you excuse the hyperbole.

From a societal point of view, we need to separate the smarts kids being mischievous from the criminals committing real harm, just like we do in the real world.

Gandhi's Joke: Credit Where Credit's Due

[AslanTheMentat]

Come now, give credit: Mahatma Gandhi...

Reporter: "Mr. Gandhi, What do you think of western civilization?"

Gandhi: "I think it would be a good idea!"

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.

Re:Poor guy

[z0idberg]

You "years" key is broken.