Former MS Security Strategist Joins Mozilla 248
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."
MS Trojan (Score:5, Funny)
glad Safari uses the khtml engine...
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BSOD (Score:2)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windowsnyder/5820055
I think I speak for a lot of people... (Score:2)
It's a trick!
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I wonder if he's ribbed for our pleasure. Spearhead my ass (not literally)-- I'm wondering if he's an infiltrator, and what kind: Sheik, Trojan, and what kind of Durex LifeStyles he has... Does he wear a Kimono? Will we face eternal CondomNation by letting him penetrate the Inner Sanctum?. I wonder what will be his Crown(ing) achievement-- anything "Beyond Seven" (of 9)? SURELY, he's the "One"...
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snyder (100%) (Dansk-Engelsk)
cheat; cheater; fraudster.
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Someday you might realize that you don't define a great security system by how much you have to patch gaping holes in it.
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(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 Snyd
I can't wait to see this thread... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I can't wait to see this thread... (Score:5, Informative)
Two different people might have two different opinions.
[neo]WHOA![/neo]
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Sadly, most people so far seem to be making fun of her name.
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But seriously -- we're glad to have another contributor, especially as he lends credibility to Mozilla (and takes it from Microsoft). We honestly don't know whether he's the reason IE sucks, or whether it's something in corporate culture, or what.
And of course, Slashdot isn't always groupthink. We do sometimes diasgree with each other!
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No we don't.
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I think the term you are looking for is oxymoron (OTOH, maybe these days that refers to the shouting guy on the Oxy-Clean ads?).
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I believe this to be a good move. I don't think all people at Microsoft is evil. Even though some people probably are
- Vegard
That time again? (Score:5, Funny)
Are you sure? (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Are you sure? (Score:4, Funny)
Soko
So... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
We can draw two possible conclusions from this.
Ahhh, but you've overlooked the most important factor: Window Snyder is female! Therefore neither of your proposed solutions is correct. Slashdot readers, once they have discovered this will completely forget all context in the discussion. They will find pictures, [blogger.com] fawn over teh hotness, and begin building web shrines in their basements throughout the globe.
Gentlemen, ready your hot grits. :-P
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Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
For some reason I want to adapt this to the duel of wits from The Princess Bride:
But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of site that would approve of an enemy, or the sort of site that would reject a friend?
A site that hates Microsoft would complain that because Microsoft's security has been notoriously poor, then Mozilla must be making a mistake. Since Slashdot tends toward favoring Mozilla, clearly I cannot choose the whine in front of you.
A site that loves Mozilla would have to rationalize the decision, and conclude that the security expert is worth hiring. But since that speaks favorably of Microsoft's security, I can clearly not choose the whine in front of me!
But Slashdot is known for its vindictiveness. Given a choice between reasoned discourse and pure snark, the site will go for snark every time. So clearly I cannot choose the whine in front of you!
etc.
In all seriousness, I've got to agree with you here. Though there's certainly been plenty of "MS has lousy security" rhetoric from people at Mozilla over the last few years.
You could look beyond people to process. (Score:2)
Of course the answer has more to do with the differences between free and non free sof
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A "Slashdot Paradox" of false choices is a way of calling you, the Slashdot reader, stupid. That's insulting, unless you think there's something good about being stupid.
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From reading other posts to this article, it seems she found some resistance to her meddlings at Microsoft.
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April 1st (Score:5, Funny)
Can resist... (Score:2)
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"Former" (Score:3, Funny)
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*
...Wha? (Score:2)
Unless there's an anti-MS clause in the Mozilla license, but I know there isn't in the GPL...
Joke? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Joke? (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Joke? (Score:5, Funny)
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You lose. (Score:2)
I win. (Score:2)
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She's quite the looker [securite.org], too.
Source [securite.org].
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Ivan Arce
n Avarice
Oh well, the world is strange.
In a related story (Score:3, Funny)
Window Snyder? (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry.
k.
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http://www.dec.net/ws/ [dec.net]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windowsnyder/ [flickr.com]
You should be sorry. (Score:2)
Or maybe Thunderbir Dnyder. But that just doesn't have the same ring to it.
They tried it... (Score:2)
Is he required to change his name to Mozilla Snyder now?
Well, his original name was Sam Snyder. They tried to change it to Mozilla Snyder, but the name was in use and the legal department made them go with something else, so they picked Windows Snyder instead.
Then the legal department had a case of deja vu...
Snyder joining Mozilla? (Score:2, Funny)
"We're not going to take it! NO! We ain't gonna take it! We're not going to take it, anymore!"
Ahem.... Window is a gal (Score:3, Informative)
Er, eh, not that influences my perception of her value to the Mozilla corp at all...
Re:Ahem.... Window is a gal (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windowsnyder/5820055
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windowsnyder/4313248
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His first name... (Score:3, Funny)
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.
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So that's how Microsoft will get us (Score:2, Funny)
adsense rocks (Score:2)
First Of All, Congrats (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:First Of All, Congrats (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah sure it did. Keep smoking the doobie.
Re:First Of All, Congrats (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:First Of All, Congrats (Score:4, Informative)
Re:First Of All, Congrats (Score:5, Funny)
Window's an old friend of mine, so let me be the first to congratulate her.
Sincerely,
Door
Window is great, but MS security still miserable (Score:5, Insightful)
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 [seclists.org] 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 [seclists.org] 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 [insecure.org]
Re:Window is great, but MS security still miserabl (Score:2)
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Used to be? We still are. XPSP2 didn't hold up long. Last July we had HD Moore's "Month of Browser Bugs," which finished up like this:
MSIE: 25
Apple Safari: 2
Mozilla: 2
Opera: 1
Konqueror: 1
then in August we get the 'patch the patch' debacle, against an easy remote admin compromise that was deemed serious enough that the Department of Homeland Security gave it coverage. I wonder what we get in Septem
Window huh? (Score:2)
Thanks folks, I'll be here all week. Please try the fish.
The trick is... (Score:2)
Also known as the George Costanza rule of management.
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Or was the Dilbert Rule of Management to fire all the smart people...
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or is that the Dilbert principle?
Re:The trick is... (Score:4, Funny)
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Duck! (Score:2)
-Charlie
Follow-up news report (Score:5, Funny)
I don't normally look *at* windows (Score:2)
Funny? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Funny? (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here.
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Oh wait...
How about Fark?
Clearly... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Clearly... (Score:5, Funny)
Window and Linus need to get married. They could even name their first child Lindow.
Yeah, but the kid would do nothing but WINE. ;-)
At least.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Awesome! (Score:2, Funny)
Pretty soon our stuff will be almost as secure as Windows!
Now if only we could only get a defection from whomever it is at Microsoft that is in charge of their world reknown OS stability....
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ [digitalelite.com]
NO! (Score:2)
I fear what may come of this.
Wait a minute... (Score:2, Funny)
Obligatory Overload (Score:2, Interesting)
Second Mozilla nabs her. Ironic No.
Microsft's Window jumps ship to Firefox.......(of all the headlines we mangle here this one's begging for it.)
The comedic possibilities are overwhelming. But here is the strangest one. Mozilla supplies her with 3 workstations. For compatability reasons she's gonnan need a Mac, a Linux, and a Windows box.
wait for it.
But now they are all window's machines. Gasp, This woman is dangerous and must be stopp
Did your momma give you that name?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
yay! \o/ (Score:2)
Love you, WS, congratulations!
-ES
Mozilla, Security, and Microsoft. (Score:2, Funny)
that is, other than what _not_ to do!!
rosieriv ftw! (Score:2)
Good! (Score:2)
There is such a thing as image. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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