Symantec appoints first cybersecurity czar to woo hacking talent

Hardcore hackers and the corporate security industry have never really got on that well. Symantec is looking to change that after hiring Tarah Wheeler to act as its website cybersecurity czar. Wheeler has a long career in the IT industry, including stints at Microsoft and Blackphone-maker Silent Circle. Both of her parents …

[Efros]

Shurely

Czarina

[Captain DaFt]

Re: Shurely

Would that make her staff Czardines?

(Always thought Symantec was a bit fishy.) ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

Norton SLSTLY Edition

(Slightly Less Shit Than Last Years)

[Anonymous Coward]

Earwax

For example, this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/intel_hacker_charges_quashed/

The description of what happened is different from what I remember circa 1995; what I remember is also the way it is described in the wikipedia article on Schwartz. In that version, Intel hired him as a contractor to do penetration testing, he penetrated, they decided they hadn't wanted him to do it so well, and made his life hell. Vomit or earwax, the virulence of the legal action must have chilled many a bright person's yearning to work for "The Man". Actions have consequences.

[froberts2]

Re: Earwax

Having spent many an evening discussing this with Randal himself over a beer or two (and maybe even the occasional scotch), I can assure you that both your memory and the wikipedia article are... well... off the mark.

[amanfromMars 1]

Cutting through the BullShit. Either one leads or you follow .....

In order to provide leading star quality security must one be able to enable getting down and dirty with a following which creates a desperate reaction to a disruptive proaction ….. which doesn’t necessarily need to be always destructive whenever surprisingly novel and noble and creative …… and even quite Nobel.

Is Ms Wheeler a fan of them memes and the genre? :-)

Such though does render one a person of interest to other intellectually challenged third parties which hardly ever, and even never have one’s best interests at heart, given that they be engaged in maintaining and retaining status quo command and control levers/power systems.

Is Symantec into leading in the cyber field rather than reacting in it to IT exploits and opportunities?

And that is an AI leading question too ……. which is bound to be also of interest to likes of an Exotic and Erotic Eastern Great Game Player if far too much for the Wild Wacky West to realise and admit be the virtual reality position and current situational environment for global media presentation.

[Anonymous Coward]

Offshored security-as-a-service

Screw the corps(e). They deserve all the hax that are coming to them.

[JeffyPoooh]

"...gone as far as embedding an RFID chip in her left hand."

Oooooh,ahhhhh...

Gives her 'street cred', assuming that you're an easily impressed moron.

[Tchou]

oth of her parents worked in...

So you know how she got the job.

[s. pam]

Temporary assignment.....

My bet is she's just gone there for the notch on her belt.

Not that there's much security credibility in having a Symantec notch! She'll quickly discover how totally ineffective many departments are, and how the meeting to have meetings crowd stifles innovation!

And then leave, either of her own accord, or in the latest RiF to end all RiF's.

[Alister]

...gone as far as embedding an RFID chip in her left hand.

Does this mean when she goes shopping, the self service till keeps going:

"Blip. Unexpected item in baggage area"

until she moves her hand?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hot dog and chips

Doesn't every UK dog now have to have an RFID chip ?

[tiggity]

worse than malware

Given that Symantec AV software cripples a PC more than most malware does, how about Symantec stop their products from being total resource hogs first (not even mentioning security bugs in their own software!)