Microsoft Executive Tapped For Top DHS Cyber Post

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 11, 2009 @07:31PM from the reboot-to-be-safe dept.

krebsatwpost writes "The Department of Homeland Security has named Microsoft's 'chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist' Phil Reitinger to be its top cyber security official. Many in the security industry praised him as a smart pick, but said he will need to confront a culture of political infighting and leadership failures at DHS. From the story: 'Reitinger comes to the position with cyber experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, he was executive director of the Defense Department's Computer Forensics Lab. Before that, he was deputy chief of the Justice Department's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property section, where he worked under Scott Charney, who is currently corporate vice president for trustworthy computing at Microsoft.'"

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US-CERT mentioned in article by daemonburrito · 2009-03-11 20:02 · Score: 5, Informative

I wonder if we will be seeing US-CERT standing up to Microsoft the way they did with this (a vector for conficker) with him in charge.
I have a sick feeling about this. This guy was surely part of the Microsoft effort to call this a feature. And what was this "political infighting" that the article alludes to? I hope it wasn't over whether to go after Microsoft for aiding in the creation of the largest botnet to date.