Microsoft security group makes 'worst jobs' list
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(InfoWorld) - What do whale-feces researchers, hazmat divers, and employees of Microsoft's Security Response Center have in common? They all made Popular Science magazine's 2007 list of the absolute worst jobs in science. Popular Science has been compiling the list since 2003, as "a way to celebrate the crazy variety of jobs that there are in science," said Michael Moyer, the magazine's executive editor. Past entrants have included barnyard masturbator, Kansas biology teacher, and U.S. Metric system advocate. Moyer said Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC) made the grade this year because the job is just so hard and thankless. "It's one of those classic jobs, which isn't gross or dangerous in any way, but the overwhelmingness of the task at hand makes it so daunting that only the most intrepid would venture there." The MSRC ranked near the middle as the sixth-worst job in this year's list, published in the July issue of the magazine. "We did rate the Microsoft security researcher as less-bad than the people who prepare the carcasses for dissection in biology laboratories," Moyer said. The absolute worst job? Hazmat diver. "These are highly trained individuals who strap on scuba dear and dive into toxic sludge," Moyer explained. Microsoft's Mark Griesi considers ranking among the worst as a badge of honor, in part because his grandfather read the story and thought it was "pretty cool to see my team on the list," he said. Working at the response center "is one of the toughest jobs to have," said Griesi, a program manager with the MSRC. "But with tough challenges come great reward. The article does call out the dedication that the people in all of these jobs have, and I have never worked with a more dedicated group then the MSRC." Still, the MSRC is not for everyone. Moyer didn't have to think long when asked whether he'd rather have the number 10-ranked whale research job. "Whale feces or working at Microsoft? I would probably be the whale feces researcher," he said. "Salt air and whale flatulence; what could go wrong?"
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Microsoft's speech-control engines have been hit by major security flaws, according to researchers.
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InfoWorld - When it comes to protecting the privacy of its users, Google ranks worse than any other Internet company, according to an interim report by Privacy International. The international watchdog group also accused Google of engaging in a smear campaign in response to its findings and demanded an apology.
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A new product from Microsoft Corp.&#39;s hardware group aims to eliminate the need for that not-so-secret list of user names and passwords hidden in the typical desk drawer.
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A list of the worst 20 security vulnerabilities bedevilling Windows and *Nix systems was unveiled last Friday by the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.
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The security research group The SANS Institute on Friday released its annual Top 20 list of the most critical Internet-related vulnerabilities to give organizations a way to prioritize their defensive efforts.
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Internet security monitoring groups are warning Windows users about new Internet attacks aimed at a Windows Internet Naming Service vulnerability that was reported and patched by Microsoft in December.
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U.S., U.K. among worst-ranked "democratic" countries in terms of privacy protections for citizens, says 2007 International Privacy Ranking report.
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Security managers in government agencies are most worried about patches and the poor quality of commercial software, a survey finds.
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Letter: They have rational reasons for avoiding IT careers.
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Google has the most abysmal privacy policies and is leading a &quot;race to the bottom&quot; by the world&#39;s most renowned Internet firms, according to a British human rights advocacy group.
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Bill Hartnett got accustomed to the screaming. As Microsoft Corp.'s manager of software sales to financial services companies, Hartnett used to get pelted with complaints about the security and reliability of Microsoft's products.
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Company Chairman Bill Gates says "this malware thing is so bad" the software giant plans to offer its own tools.
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Counterpane's Doug Howard says the overall information security of the U.S. government is a disaster.
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In a story for the Associated Press this afternoon, one of the directors of Microsoft's Windows Client Product Planning team is quoted as saying that a Black Hat security conference demonstration last August scared Microsoft to the point where the company seriously considered removing virtualization capability from Vista entirely.
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(InfoWorld) - Nearly a year after Microsoft introduced Windows Live OneCare, the company's first foray into the security market is still getting low marks from analysts and users. A recent report comparing the antivirus products of various vendors ranked Microsoft's product at the bottom in terms of detecting potential security threats. At the same time, users are complaining that OneCare, which includes firewall, antivirus, backup, and antispyware software, quarantines the entire mail store of their Outlook and Outlook Express programs, making it impossible for them to retrieve e-mail. AV-Comparatives, a project in Austria overseen by security researcher Andreas Clementi, published the antivirus comparison report, which also looked at products from Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BitDefender, Fortinet, F-Secure, and several other antivirus products from smaller vendors. In detecting Windows viruses, worms, macros, scripts, and other OS threats, Microsoft ranked last out of the 15 vendors tested, detecting them 91 percent of the time. G Data Software AG's Anti-Virus Kit (AVK) ranked first with 99.6 percent detection, while products from three vendors -- Kaspersky Anti-Virus, MicroWorld Technologies eScan, and F-Secure Anti-Virus -- tied for second with 99 percent detection. TrustPort Antivirus Workstation from AED came in third with 98.9 percent detection. In preventing intrusion through backdoors, Trojans and in other malware detection, Windows OneCare also ranked last out of 13 vendors, with 79.6 percent detection. TrustPort came in first at 99.5 percent detection; AVK came in second with 99.4 percent detection; and AVIRA GmbH's AntiVir Personal Edition Premium came in third with 98.9 percent detection. If ranking low in its rates of malware and virus detection isn't enough to irk users, a recent update to the product has been quarantining the Outlook.PST file, which stores mail in Outlook and Outlook Express, users reported recently on a Microsoft Windows user form. "This is the most unacceptable act Microsoft has ever committed," groused one user on the forum. "I run a small business, and I am screwed. I have no way to respond to e-mails because I made the mistake of trusting Microsoft ... and all of my e-mails and contacts are gone." Microsoft confirmed the problem Friday and said it will update the Windows Live OneCare engine to fix the problem as part of its monthly patch release cycle. The company also offered the following step-by-step fix to recover lost e-mail in the meantime: *Â Close Outlook or Outlook Express *Â Click change OneCare settings in the main OneCare user interface *Â Click on the viruses and spyware tab *Â Click on the quarantine button, and then select the pst or dbx file, and then click on restore. To ensure that the problem does not continue until the next update, Microsoft said users should also do the following: *Â Click change OneCare setting in the main user interface *Â Click viruses and spyware tab *Â Click on the exclusions button *Â Click on the add folder button *Â Navigate to the specific folder that contains the .dbx or .pst file to be excluded. *Â Click OK.