The Pwnie Awards are like Blackhat's version of the SANS Top 20. Categories include Best Client-Side Bug, Best Server-Side Bug, Most Epic FAIL, Mass Øwnage, etc... Check it out at: http://pwnie-awards.org/2008/awards.html
One big change that I haven't posted about yet was my transition from Visual Studio Diagnostics to Office Security a few months ago. Here's an article published yesterday in "Dark Reading" that covers my team and the pen test system we're building:
Microsoft Office Security Team Enlists Bots, Pen Tests
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=159305
"posting nearly 5,000 pages of new technical documentation for the Microsoft Office binary file formats for Word, Excel and PowerPoint"
Press release:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jun08/06-30InteropUpdatePR.mspx
Technical specs:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122062
Great article on testing by James Rodriguez that I just came across, you can learn a lot in Little League!
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb968981.aspx
This reminds me of a funny thing that happened last year. At the start of baseball season they have parents come together and help prep the neighborhood field. There were about 100 people all out there en masse doing grunt work with shovels and wheelbarrows. I was covered in mud trying to fix a drainage problem near the batting cages. Anyway, a guy comes through asking if there was anybody with carpentry expertise. Silence. Not that there was a shortage of folks ready for some other task. Suddenly another guy pipes up "need any software engineers?" to break the tension and a big knowing laugh went down the line. :)
Here's a nice treatise on the nuts and bolts of how to "get traction" as a software tester (especially at Microsoft):
http://blogs.msdn.com/dustin_andrews/archive/2007/12/15/learn-to-get-traction-in-your-team.aspx
Quisiera dar gracias a todos quienes asistieron mi keynote gringo en Mexico City por SG 2007. Estoy muy agradecido por todos que me dieron el bienvenido en tu país. Espero que habia algo en mi discurso que le ayudará mejorar la experienca de depuración de alguna manera. Ahora estoy leyendo en las noticiás de lo que sucedió en Tabasco. No se que decir sino que los que viven o tienen familia o amigos alli estan en mis pensamientos y oraciones.
Una cosa es que no he podido poner el Powerpoint aqui en mi blog, pero te lo puedo enviar por email. También me gustaria saber si tienes preguntas que no pude contestar durante el evento. Tengo la página "Contact" aqui en el blog o mas facíl quizás es enviar directamente por ejarvi - microsoft - punto - com. Desde ayer ya tengo una página en Facebook -- pero estoy sin amigos! Si te gusta Facebook por favor me gustaria tenerte como un amigo. No importa si no estaba alli en SG 2007 si es desarrollador y quiere un contacto aqui en Visual Studio le voy a añadir. Creo que el keynote que a mi me gustó mas que todo fue el discurso de Miguel Serrano sobre la oportunidades que hay en Mexico y lo que podamos hacer trabajando juntamente para hacer metas y cumplirlas para el beneficio de todos. Mientras que estoy aqui trabajando en este equipo, les prometo que voy hacer todo lo que puedo para ayudarles tener exito en sus esfuerzos desarrolladores.
The Unintended Consequences of the Information Age Lecture Series: Our Infrastructures: Online and Vulnerable?
Jointly sponsored by The Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, UW-INSER, the MS Program in Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastucture, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Information School, this series provides a compelling case for increased research in cybersecurity as related to critical infrastructure.
Part 1 will air on UWTV at the following times:
- Monday October 29 at 6pm
- Wed Oct 31 at 11pm
- Thurs November 1 at 10:30am and 7pm
- Friday Nov 2 at 4pm
- Sunday Nov 4 at 3pm
Future airdates will be posted later on the UWTV website:
http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=20354&fID=2095
"BYU computer science alumni came back to their alma mater and donated over $35,000 for the new Microsoft Mentorship in the computer science department. This mentorship allows students in the computer science major to actively pursue mentored undergraduate research and be paid for it."
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/65921
...But "tester center" works for me too, check it out: http://msdn.com/testercenter
"In the field testing we’ve done so far, we’ve found the TFS BPA tool to be a huge help in diagnosing server configuration problems." -- Brian Harry
http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2007/09/29/september-tfs-power-tools-released.aspx
Something I will definitely be keeping my eyes on. Stuff like this tells me we've come a LONG way since the 1990's ...
"After a great deal of work between the Moonlight and .NET teams, we’re ready to formally announce that we (Microsoft and Novell) will be bringing Silverlight to Linux, fully supported and including application and media codec compatibility."
http://port25.technet.com/archive/2007/09/05/silverlight-on-linux.aspx
