Breaking Windows for better security
Published: 21 Jun 2005 12:55 BST
Matt Thomlinson, whose job it is to help make Microsoft engineers create more secure code, noticed that some of the engineers were turning red, becoming obviously angry at the demo hacking incident. Yet as painful as the lesson was, he was glad to see the crowd of engineers taking things personally.
Thomlinson frequently makes similar entreaties to the engineers on the need for secure code, but he said his own lectures don't have the same effect. "It kind of hits people up here," Thomlinson said, pointing to his head. "Things are different when a group of programmers watch their actual code exploited. It kind of hits people in the gut."
For two days, Microsoft staffers took these body blows repeatedly as they learned of various exploits. On day one, several dozen executives, including some of the company's most senior ones, were exposed to this simulated wrath in a makeshift boot camp. Among the participants were Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Windows chief, and Brian Valentine, head of core Windows operating system development. The second day drew about 400 rank-and-file Windows engineers, including people who don't necessarily focus on security features in their day-to-day work.
Allchin is not just any high-ranking software executive: In the technology industry, his name has become largely synonymous with the Windows operating system he oversees. A strong supporter of Blue Hat, Allchin wanted the Windows group not just to hear about security issues, but to see them as well.
"I'd already been through lots of days of personal training on the tools that are used to do this," Allchin said about the work of the hackers. "I personally wanted to really do a deep dive and really understand from their perspective."
It was a relatively safe way to get the experience. In a world where "white hats" are the security do-gooders and "black hats" are the hard-core villains, the hackers at Blue Hat were hardly representative of the dark side; if they had any pigment at all, it was no more than a tinge of grey.
This could well be a significant reason Microsoft held the event — to woo an influential group that has the choice of reporting security flaws discreetly or going public with them. The software maker routinely preaches the benefits of what it calls "responsible disclosure".
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