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Author: getwired

Who shot Sony?

Who shot Sony?

I’m curious about the identity of the group that broke in to Sony, apparently caused massive damage, and compromised a considerable amount of information that belongs to the company. For some reason, journalists aren’t focusing on this, however. Probably because it doesn’t generate the clicks and ad views that publishing embarrassing emails, salary disclosures, and documented poor security practices do. Instead, they’re primarily focusing on revealing Sony’s confidential information, conveniently provided in multiple, semi-regular doc dumps by the party behind…

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Shareholder Shackles

Shareholder Shackles

Recently, Michael Dell wrote about the after-effects of taking his company private. I think his words are quite telling: “I’d say we got it right. Privatization has unleashed the passion of our team members who have the freedom to focus first on innovating for customers in a way that was not always possible when striving to meet the quarterly demands of Wall Street.”, and “The single most important thing a company can do is invest and innovate to help customers succeed…” Early…

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Is Office for mobile devices free?

Is Office for mobile devices free?

As soon as I saw today’s news, I thought that there would be confusion about what “Office for tablets and smartphones going free” would mean. There certainly has been. Office for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets is indeed free, within certain bounds. I’m going to attempt to succinctly delinate the cases under which it is, and is not, free. Office is free for you to use on your smartphone or tablet if, and only if: You are not using…

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On the Design of Toasterfridges

On the Design of Toasterfridges

On my flight today, I rewatched the documentary Objectified. I’ve seen it a few times before, but it has been several years. While I don’t jibe with 100% of the sentiment of the documentary, it made me think a bit about design, as I was headed to Dallas. In particular, it made me consider Apple, Microsoft, and Google, and their dramatically different approaches to design – which are in fact a reflection of the end goal of each of the…

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It is past time to stop the rash of retail credit card “breaches”

It is past time to stop the rash of retail credit card “breaches”

When you go shopping at Home Depot or Lowe’s, there are often tall ladders, saws, key cutters, and forklifts around the shopping floor. As a general rule, most of these tools aren’t for your use at all. You’re supposed to call over an employee if you need any of these tools to be used. Why? Because of risk and liability, of course. You aren’t trained to use these tools, and the insurance that the company holds would never cover their…

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On the death of files and folders

On the death of files and folders

As I write this, I’m on a plane at 30,000+ feet, headed to Chicago. Seatmates include a couple from Toronto headed home from a cruise to Alaska. The husband and I talk technology a bit, and he mentions that his wife particularly enjoys sending letters as they travel. He and I both smile as we consider the novelty in 2014 of taking a piece of paper, writing thoughts to friends and family, and putting it in an envelope to travel…

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My path forward

My path forward

Note: I’m not leaving Seattle, or leaving Directions on Microsoft. I just thought I would share the departure email I sent in 2004. Today, August 6, 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of the day I left Microsoft and Seattle to work at Winternals in Austin. For those who don’t know – earlier that day, Steve Ballmer had sent a company-wide memo entitled “Our path forward”, hence my tongue-in cheek subject selection. From: Wes Miller Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 2:32…

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You have a management problem.

You have a management problem.

I have three questions for you to start off this post. I don’t care if you’re “in the security field” or not. In fact, I’m more interested in your answers if you aren’t tasked with security, privacy, compliance, or risk management as a part of your defined work role. The questions: If I asked you to show me threat models for your major line of business applications, could you? If I asked you to define the risks (all of them) within…

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Is the Web really free?

Is the Web really free?

When was the last time you paid to read a piece of content on the Web? Most likely, it’s been a while. The users of the Web have become used to the idea that Web content is (more or less) free. And outside of sites that put paywalls up, that indeed appears to be the case. But is the Web really free? I’ve had lots of conversations lately about personal privacy, cookies, tracking, and “getting scroogled“. Some with technical colleagues, some with…

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Engage or die

Engage or die

I’m pretty lucky. For now, this is the view from my office window. You see all those boats? I get to look out at the water, and those boats, all the time (sun, rain, or snow). But those boats… honestly, I see most of those boats probably hundreds of days per year more than their owners do. I’d bet there’s a large number of them that haven’t moved in years. The old adage goes “The two happiest days in a…

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