Mozilla Corp. has hired a former Microsoft security strategist to help secure its open-source software, particularly its Firefox browser. Window Snyder, whose hiring was announced last week, takes the title of "Chief Security Something" -- that's a working title, and not all that unusual for a company headed by someone who once held the title of "Chief Lizard Wrangler" -- said she has big plans for the group's development efforts. . "We want to reduce the overall risk [to Firefox] by evaluating where there are unused features, and then getting rid of that old code," said Snyder. While at Microsoft, Snyder was responsible for security sign-offs on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003. Prior to Mozilla's hiring, she was with Matasano Security, a New York City-based company she founded after leaving Microsoft. Before working for the Redmond, Wash. developer, Snyder was one of the founding team members for the @stake hacking-group-turned-consultancy, which Symantec acquired in 2004. "We want Firefox to have a tighter code base, and fewer entry points into the system," Snyder said. The link for this article located at DDJ.com is no longer available. . 'We want to reduce the overall risk [to Firefox] by evaluating where there are unused features, and . mozilla, hired, former, microsoft, security, strategist, secure, open-source, softwa. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Web applications have become a popular way to provide global access to data, services, and products. While this global access is one of the Web's underlying advantages, any security holes in these applications are also globally exposed and frequently exploited. It is extremely easy to write applications that contain unintentional security holes. This is demonstrated by the range of common web applications, including PHPMyAdmin, PHPShop and FreeTrade, that have contained major security holes.. . .. Web applications have become a popular way to provide global access to data, services, and products. While this global access is one of the Web's underlying advantages, any security holes in these applications are also globally exposed and frequently exploited. It is extremely easy to write applications that contain unintentional security holes. This is demonstrated by the range of common web applications, including PHPMyAdmin, PHPShop and FreeTrade, that have contained major security holes. The source code is often required to identify these holes, but it is common to make the source code of these applications available to the public. This article provides five steps to help identify or avoid such security holes in applications written using PHP. Here is a listing of the five discussed in detail in this article: Avoid Using Variables When Accessing Files Escape characters in SQL statements Do Not Trust Global Variables Avoid False Uploads Escape HTML Characters in Text . Web applications have become a popular way to provide global access to data, services, and products.. applications, become, popular, provide, global, services, products. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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