Known by most by his email name, ‘Stepto’, Stephen Toulouse was involved in some of the most fundamental security incidents and decisions made at Microsoft over the past several years. In 2007 Stepto moved from Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing division to pursue his lifelong dream of being paid to play video games and work for the Xbox team. These days, he works to make Xbox LIVE a safe and enjoyable experience for its users. In this irreverent and humorous presentation, Stepto skewers some common misconceptions about software security at Microsoft, owns up to mistakes, and talks about the role of computer security in today’s industry. But most importantly, Stephen covers in detail how the lessons learned in computer security apply to many different jobs in the industry. Other people use the phrase ‘have baggage’ as a bad thing, meaning stuff they would rather not carry around. Stepto points out how security is a lesson that is applicable across all aspects of the industry. It’s baggage you gladly being with you, because it makes you a better computer professional.
