back to article MS security chief becomes DHS cybersecurity boss

A senior Microsoft exec has been placed in charge of protecting the US's computer systems from hacking attacks Philip Reitinge, chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist at Microsoft, has been appointed to the lead role in protecting the US government's computing network from from cyberattack. He was tapped by US Homeland …

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  1. kain preacher

    I wounder

    How longer the comment section will be open on this one . I predict 150 comments before the end of the day. PST

  2. John Smith Gold badge
    Joke

    Irony alert! Irony alert!

    "Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategist at Microsoft"

    Am I alone in this view?

  3. Matt
    Thumb Down

    Wait a minute..

    So a Microsoft Exec is now going to be in charge of the security for DHS computers here in the US...?

    How expensive is it to live in England, and do you know where I can find a good IT job?

  4. jake Silver badge

    Oh, goodie. Just what we needed on a friday.

    Have fun, Mods :-)

    'nuff said.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    @Matt

    If you live out of London its not that expensive my monthly outgoings are less than £1,500pcm

    As for an IT job, I was made redundant 1 month ago, I start my new job, with a higher salary than my previous job, next week.

    I have had 4 other offers of job interviews in the last week since accepting the new job.

    So come on over

  6. s. pam Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    it's time to PWN the US gubmnt sites

    One cannot help but wonder when the US sites will be PWNed considering how much insecurity this guy has been around. I mean after all, having sat there doing sweet F.A. about his own employers' inherent lack of security, now he's going to run DHS? Looks like there'll be a new name for the gumnt department PWNdhes (PWN this ) ;-)....

  7. Roger Williams
    Unhappy

    Avé! Bossa nova! Similis bossa seneca!

    Jokes about "Microsoft Security" == "Military Intelligence" aside, Phil is simply the most recent troubling appointment in a very troubling trend in the new US administration. The DOJ, for example, is similarly loaded with ex-RIAA lawyers and their pro-patent buddies. It's only a matter of time before we see the first Federal laws aimed at making a criminal of every computer user who doesn't pay their Protection Fees to Microsoft, the MPAA, and an approved list of patent trolls.

  8. Tom Maddox Silver badge
    Gates Halo

    Wow

    I have no words. I'm not even a *nix or Mac fanboi, and even I recognize that this is fairly ludicrous. I guess the upside is that Microsoft is used to having to deal with their infrastructure and code being targeted by malicious individuals.

  9. joe
    Paris Hilton

    Tis Firday the 13th!

    "Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategist at Microsoft"

    Trustworthy, strategy and Microsoft in the same sentence!

    Microsoft security?

    Someone from MS appointed cybersecurity boss for the whole country?

    This should be reran on April 1st!

    Paris, cos i'm just as clueless by this as she is!

  10. Pierre

    "MS security chief becomes DHS cybersecurity boss"

    Is it April 1st already? Coz it's a bit too close to home to be funny.

    Waddayamin, not a joke? RUN FOR THE HILLZ!!!1!eleventyone!!

  11. raving angry loony

    too funny

    Now that's just too funny. So I guess we should start expecting mail from DHS advertising viagra, or a sudden increase in "highly secure" botnets run by Russian mafioski? This should be fun to watch.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Insert witty title here

    Now now people, lets not jump to conclusions. I mean he could have worked as MS security chief and indeed know what he is doing when it comes to computer sec............AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHA.

    /deep breath

    AHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

    /gasps... Ok ok so I couldn't actually get through that BS line without totally cracking up. I to want to believe this is a early April Fools joke, but sadly it's not. Lets just hope his answer to the nations computer security issues isn't "just turn on Windows firewall and you'll have the safest, most pleasant internet experience possible".

    Paris cos some how I think the she is better qualified to be DHS computer security boss.

  13. Lager And Crisps
    Unhappy

    ...another double take moment I think!

    And you thought anything would change once Obama became President.

    Big business chooses the President of America, not the populace. The elective process is nothing more than a toothless PR exercise. Pretty similar to Blighty I guess.

    Microsoft and security is an oxymoron.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    NSA

    The old guy moves out because of "National Security Agency's increased role in cybersecurity" we are told.

    In comes a guy from MS.

    THAT is worth worrying about - not his competance.

    Muppets.

  15. Keith T
    Boffin

    Best candidates ineligible

    Sadly, most of the best candidates for the job are obviously ineligible because they are not US citizens.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Dumbing down

    ...like the rest of the new Administration. Nice, well-meaning guys, better than the last lost, but really....c'mon, "you cannot be serious!"

  17. John Smith Gold badge
    Alert

    Of course

    Just because he was i/c of *having* a strategy for delivering a "Trustworthy infrastructure" does not actually mean he delivered a "Trustworthy infrastructure" .

    In fact he might not have even delivered a strategy for delivering "Trustworthy infrastructure" .

    Still he did turn up.

  18. Fred Tourette
    Black Helicopters

    Excuse Me?

    You're fucking kidding me.

  19. Walking Turtle
    Boffin

    "Attention All USA Citizoids:

    The New American Century's NeoDeal, with its distinctively American feature of Circular Rollover Financed Re-Corporatization of Americxa's NeoGummnint Über Alles at exactly Everyone Else's Out-Of-Pocket Expense, shall continue apace and unabated albeit Sub Rosa until full Ownership Class morale is entirely restored. Return to your daily task of rolling your own Sub-Securitized Treasury Derivatives Portfolio over onto your OWN neighbor NOW!"

    I watched in horror as the Bastard Sons of Casino LePonzi gorged themselves on the rendered fat of all the land until all the fat of it was all gone. Then gorged they themselves again on each other. Then came unto me the voice of an Angel like unto Thomas Jefferson's Talking Jackdaw, and saith the Big Black Bird, blacker than any tar-barrel, many things seldom uttered unto the Sons of Man...

    I think that guy's in for a dose of his own formeer employer's harshest medicine - the obstinate denial of the need for a given patch for months on end has been a staple of El Reg fare here before. (Vista...)

    OTOH, he might have some clout when it comes to making sure that certain patches are indeed in the pipeline... Then again, with the Power to Reveal and Conceal (ESPECIALLY that latter!) at his sole command, will he even NEED to do the Right Thing? Or might he just merely instead learn how+why it is that the floor around the Homeland Security rug is so well-swept?

    Or (Bob hasten the day!) at last throw up the hands and embrace Slackware instead? (Well, OK, then Linspire Enterprise Edition; there's a mandatory license fee there too hey what!) Either distro'd be an improvement in certain respects, methinks. Ah, and the RETRAINING activity at a PROFIT... This guy could bring on a New Age of IT Prosperity, hm? (But I think he will not.)

    State Corporatism and her Musical Button-Down Bedmates. Send in the clowns? (Don't bother; you know why...)

  20. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    You never know...

    ...he might not be an idiot. Just because Microsoft's sales and marketing tards *always* cripple their products' security by making them "user-friendly" doesn't mean the engineers don't know better.

    The biggest target on the entire internet is update.microsoft.com. Compromise that and your botnet not only contains 90% of the PCs on the planet, it also contains 100% of the machines at MS itself. (Google for Kernighan's Reflections on Trusting Trust if you can't see the possibilities here.) Since I don't wear a tinfoil hat, I'll stick my neck out and say that this site hasn't been compromised and that isn't because no-one has ever been tempted.

  21. Goat Jam
    Gates Horns

    Oh goody

    MS takes the first step towards their long sought after holy grail, "Trusted Computing", or what they used to call Palladium.

    Watch out for calls to introduce "Trust Circuitry" into CPU's which stop them running any "untrusted" software, aka Linux.

  22. rob
    Joke

    Wonderful security

    Taking all bets... All DHS servers pwned in 1 month!

    We should run a sweep.. £1 in! Winner takes all!

  23. Estariel

    Oh the irony

    The joke about Microsoft having anything useful to say about security - too obvious.

    More interesting: MS droid tells Ebay/Skype to give the Skype encryption keys to the NSA or else get a one-way ticket to Gitmo. It becomes illegal for US organisations to financially support free software for terrrrrrrrists. Bye Linux. Google will now supply copies of all international web searches to NSA. Job done. Back to Redmond by teatime.

  24. Tim Williams
    Stop

    Re: Wait a minute..

    "How expensive is it to live in England, and do you know where I can find a good IT job?"

    The UK government keeps loosing vital sensitive data by sending unencrypted CD/DVD's though unregistered post. Microsoft security would be an improvement...... Perhaps you should try Ireland ?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    @Goat Jam

    "Watch out for calls to introduce "Trust Circuitry" into CPU's which stop them running any "untrusted" software, aka Linux."

    Haven't the newer Intel Macs got this already?

  26. John Smith Gold badge
    Coat

    @Fred Tourette

    No we're not.

    Sant Claus does not exist either.

    Sorry.

  27. jake Silver badge

    @Walking Turtle

    I know amanfromMars, and you're not him.

  28. CTG
    Joke

    @jake

    I think amfM's programmer has just discovered evolutionary algorithms...

  29. Goat Jam
    Linux

    @AC 12:44 GMT

    Yes, I believe they do have something of that ilk, but I don't think they use it to it's full, <ahem> potential yet. Both apple and MS have long been aiming for a PC landscape where they get full control over what is installed on _their_ systems.

    I'm just keeping an eye open for this crap and when PC hardware starts becoming hobbled by having mandatory "Trusted Computing" inbuilt then that will be the time to stock up on EOL kit that doesn't include this feature.

    Hopefully those protectors of freedom (aka The Chinese) will come to our rescue and still manufacture stuff without that crap.

  30. Raife Edwards
    Flame

    Phase Two...

    I was wondering, exactly how "the Government" was going to FORCIBLY-SHOVE Microsofts (and the Governments) LONG-PLANNED... ANTI-RIGHTS... CONTROL-FREAK-INSPIRED... CORPORATE-DREAM... "Trusted Computing"... down everyones throats... whether we wanted it, or not.

    Well... I guess, now, we all know.

  31. John Smith Gold badge
    Black Helicopters

    A tough choice

    MS guy. Probably knows a lot about holes in Windows. Even the ones which can only be found easily if you have the source code. Won't try to black mail you in the interests of National Security but will try to force every PC in the US to lock up if loaded with a "Professional" quality JPG unless the annual license, or vig keeps coming.

    NSA guy (Codename Humpty) and rather shy "Assistants." Probably know a lot about holes in everything and unlikely to force Windows on everything but a bit sinister. Quite likely to want pandemic surveillance of everyone doing anything in the US at any time. For starters.

    Hmm. Do I slam my nuts in the fridge door a few times or take the clubbing around the head with the baseball bat.

    Tough call.

    Black helicopters because something tells me that whatever happens the citizens loose.

  32. Walking Turtle
    Boffin

    Re Jake: I yam who I yam.

    @ jake Posted Monday 16th March 2009 16:27 GMT

    > @Walking Turtle

    > By jake Posted Monday 16th March 2009 16:27 GMT

    > I know amanfromMars, and you're not him.

    That's nice. Are you two friends?

    Indeed I am not amanfromMars, although I tend to like his presentations very much. I do not try to be anybody else - being myself is an effortless thing, actually. Pretending to be someone other than ones' self squanders precious time and energy. (Have you tried it?)

    I am, in fact, Walking Turtle. Um, was there some prior confusion on that point? Indeed, is there a point to the above assertion of differentiation, pray tell? If so, kindly do state it explicitly. :)

    Talk to me.

  33. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Re Jake: I yam who I yam.

    Walking Turtle is to amanfromMars as Athlete is to Snow Patrol.

  34. Walking Turtle
    Happy

    Re: Re: Re Jake: I yam who I yam.

    @ Sarah Bee Posted Friday 20th March 2009 10:32 GMT

    > Walking Turtle is to amanfromMars as Athlete is to Snow Patrol.

    Both of whom (as well as Jake) yet be strangers to myself - have I not been paying attention, Ma'am? Or should we make further introductions? :)

    Aside: I love this pub. Last time I enjoyed the company and myself as much was on the "Bill's Bar" forum on the old (dial-up @ 9600 baud) Boston Citi-Net BB, now sadly long since gone West. (Sara, I think you would have realy liked Bill S, who owned and moderated both the board and the tangle of '486 octo-thingies in the hall closet that it ran from.)

    It is good to have found that the old ambience still lives. (Issa' mirak-oo!) :)

  35. jake Silver badge

    @Ambulatory Terrapene & Ms Apis Mellifera

    No, I don't know who amfM is, but I have my suspicions. I know Walking Turtle isn't him. Apparently my Yank/Brit/Finn hybrid sense of humo(u)r needs more work.

    Athlete & Snow Patrol are OK, I guess. They don't light me up the way the Stranglers did back in 1976 ... But not much does (you can hear my voice on "Live at the Hope and Anchor"). Currently, the stereo is playing a demo CD from a local N.CA band called "So Called Tragedy" that the drummer gave me. Pretty good stuff.

    Ms Bee? Are you A. m. mellifera, or A. m. scutellata, or some combo of the above? ;-)

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