Daily Spin: How Do You Spell "Chutzpah?"

The Big Picture

How Do You Spell "Chutzpah?"

So Microsoft, which one are you -- the Pot or the Kettle?

Last week saw our friends in Redmond not only announcing the delay of the Vista operating system, but also tackling several bugs in venerable Internet Explorer. Given all that commotion, you'd think Microsoft would wisely keep its head down. Certainly you wouldn't expect them to offer anyone 'constructive criticism' on security issues. But lo and behold, that's exactly what Stephen Toulouse, a program manager for the Microsoft Security Response Center and often the MSRC's spokesman, went and did in his personal blog.

Who was he offering this 'friendly advice' to? None other than Apple Computers.

I'll give you a moment to soak this in (or control your laughter).

Granted, Apple's seen its share of security woes recently (including their own zero-day vuln debacle last month). But come on -- Microsoft offering security advice to ANYONE, let alone Apple is like a farmer with broken fences chastising his neighbor for leaving his stable gate open. It's ludicrous, and dare I say, offensive?

Regardless of the intentions or how constructive the advice was meant to be, now is not the time for Microsoft to be poo-pooing anyone's security practices. It's getting to the point where if you blink, you may have missed the latest IE vuln. And with various versions of Vista being pushed as far off as 2007, the only advice Microsoft should be offering is "Don't follow our examples."

NWC's Take on the News

Here's what we think of the lastest news. Read the story and leave your own comment. Let's see if we agree...

FTC Smacks Spammer With $900,000 FineThe Federal Trade Commission on Thursday nailed a spammer with a record-setting $900,000 fine for violating the CAN-SPAM Act.

NWC's Take: Interesting -- but will they ever see a dime of it? Doubtful. The only way to make the madness stop is going to be with the threat of serious jail time.

Spitzer Alleges Firm Sold Personal Information From Millions of CustomersNew York Attorney General Eliot Sptizer is suing a company for allegedly selling the personal information of millions of consumers.NWC's Take:

See above story's take (re: jail time!)

IT Recruiting Changes In The Outsourcing Era IT executives pick entry-level workers based on tech skills, but they value business skills more highly.

NWC's Take:Its the old "no job without experience/no experience without a job" adage for the 21st century. You want people with good communication and business knowledge skills on your team, but you hire based on technical skills -- which you'll end up outsourcing anyway -- and the ability to pay them low salaries while you DO keep them around. Something has to give.

From the NWC Blogs

Sourcefire Acquisition Squelched by Politics, Ignorance

Andrew Conry-Murray discusses Check Point Software's decision last week to put its proposed $225 million acquisition of IDS/IPS vendor Sourcefire on indefinite hold due to political concerns.The acquisition, announced in October 2005, came under the scrutiny of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in February 2006. CFIUS, headed by the Treasury Department, investigates the acquisition of U.S. companies and assets by foreign governments. Check Point, which is headquartered in Israel, needed a green light from CFIUS before the acquisition could proceed.

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