Microsoft Fattens Up Its Security Ranks

Microsoft is fattening up its security ranks, announcing that Ron Moritz has switched over from CA. A somewhat "green" player in the industry, elbowing its way among household names, such as Symantec, McAfee and Kaspersky, the Redmond company is keen on swallowing up an as big as possible slice of the multi-billion annual security business. In this regard, Microsoft has been acting like a magnet for security experts from rival companies. Illustrative examples are Vincent "Vinny" Gullotto, Dan Wolff and Katrin Totcheva, all three connected with the Microsoft Malware Protection Portal that went live in April 2007.

Vincent Gullotto, Microsoft's head of Security Research and Response team, was involved with both Symantec and McAfee, Dan Wolff - running the company's team in Japan - came from McAfee, while Katrin Totcheva, from the team in Dublin, was previously in bed with F-Secure. The latest addition to the Redmond company is Ron Moritz, taking up the role of General Manager for Edge Security & Access Group at Microsoft.

Moritz's trajectory in the security industry involves both Symantec and CA (Computer Associates). At Symantec, Moritz served as Chief Technical Officer. In 2002, he moved to CA with the mission to clarify and strengthen the contours of the company's security offerings. From the position of a senior executive at CA International (Senior Vice President, Chief Security Strategist), after five years, Moritz has joined the Microsoft Forefront team, becoming the General Manager for the Edge Security and Access Group.

"Moritz brings 22 years of deep security experience to Microsoft and will be the driver of Microsoft's edge security efforts, which includes the Internet Security & Acceleration (ISA) Server, as well as the Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG), as well helping to help drive overall security products strategy Moritz is one of the authors of six books in the field of security, including the Black Book of Corporate Security, and has been the keynote speaker at dozens of meetings and conferences on the subject, including keynote speaker at the RSA conferences in 2003 and 2004. Moritz has written and been quoted in hundreds of professional articles in the field of security", revealed David Burt, Product Manager, Communications Forefront security.