{{short description|Computer security expert (born 1975)}} {{Infobox person |name = Window Snyder | birth_name = Mwende Window Snyder |image = File:Window Snyder Web Summit 2017 cropped.jpg |caption = |birth_date ={{Birth year and age|1975}} |birth_place = Honolulu, Hawaii |other_names = |known_for = |occupation = Software security officer |nationality = }}
'''Mwende Window Snyder''' (born 1975), better known as '''Window Snyder''', is an American computer security expert.<ref>{{citation |title= Kenyan Americans |first=Laura C. |last=Rudolph |encyclopedia=Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America |editor-first= Thomas |editor-last=Riggs |volume= 3 |edition=3 |location=Detroit |year=2014 |pages=1–9 }}</ref> She has been a top security officer at Square, Inc.,<ref name=":0" /> Apple, Fastly, Intel and Mozilla Corporation. She was also a senior security strategist at Microsoft. She is co-author of ''Threat Modeling'', a standard manual on application security.
==Biography== Snyder was born in New Jersey,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Franceschi-Bicchierai |first=Lorenzo |date=2023-08-04 |title=Meet Window Snyder, the trailblazer who helped secure the internet and billions of devices |url=https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/04/window-snyder-cybersecurity-trailblazer/ |access-date=2023-08-05 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref> of an American father and a Kenyan-born mother, Wayua Muasa. She goes by her middle name Window; her first name is used only by family members. She attended Boston College,<ref name=":2" /> after graduating from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1993 and has served on their board.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-06-17-mozilla-window-snyder_N.htm|title='Geek girl' helps keep Mozilla safe in scary times|publisher=USA Today|date=June 17, 2008|last=Swartz|first=Jon}}</ref> While earning her undergraduate degree in computer science, she became interested in cryptography and crypto-analysis<ref name=":1" /> and began actively working on the topic of cybersecurity with the Boston hacker community in the 1990s, building her own tools and getting familiar with multi-user systems.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rosenblatt|first=Seth|date=2016-07-06|title=How one woman protects almost the whole Internet (Q&A)|url=https://the-parallax.com/2016/07/06/one-woman-window-snyder-protects-almost-whole-internet/|access-date=2020-06-10|website=The Parallax|language=en-US}}</ref> She went by the nickname '''Rosie the Riveter''' in the hacker scene.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World |first=Joseph |last=Menn |publisher=Public Affairs |location=New York |date=2019 |page=49{{ndash}}50 }}</ref>
She then pursued this career path as one of the first computer scientists to specialize in cybersecurity, and to proactively try to bridge the gap between corporations and the security researchers often termed 'hackers.'<ref name=":1" /> She joined @stake as the 10th employee,<ref name=":2" /> and rose to director of security architecture, until she left the company in 2002. Subsequently, she worked as a senior security strategist at Microsoft in the Security Engineering and Communications group. During this time, she was a contributor to the Security Design Lifecycle (SDL) and co-developed a new methodology for threat modeling software, as well as acting as security lead and signoff on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Grimes|first=Roger A.|title=Hacking the hacker : learn from the experts who take down hackers|publisher=Wiley|year=2017|isbn=978-1-119-39626-0|location=Indianapolis, IN|chapter=46 - Profile: Window Snyder|oclc=983465946}}</ref> She also created the Blue Hat Microsoft Hacker Conference, an event bringing together engineers at Microsoft and hackers for a dialogue about the security of Microsoft's software.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Evers|first1=Joris|title=Mozilla looks to Microsoft for security|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-looks-to-microsoft-for-security/|website=ZDNet|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=September 23, 2017}}</ref> After leaving Microsoft in 2005, she worked as a principal, founder, and CTO at Matasano Security, a security services and product company later acquired by NCC Group.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brenner|first=Bill|date=2012-08-02|title=NCC Group acquires Matasano Security|url=https://www.csoonline.com/article/2135259/ncc-group-acquires-matasano-security.html|access-date=2020-06-10|website=CSO Online|language=en}}</ref> She joined Mozilla in September 2006.<ref>[http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9003051 Mozilla taps former Microsoft executive for security strategy] (Robert McMillan, ''Computerworld Security'', September 6, 2006)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061113004010/http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/schrep/archives/2006/09/welcome_to_window_synder.html Welcome to Window Snyder!] (schrep's blog, September 6, 2006) — Mozilla hiring announcement</ref>
On December 10, 2008, Snyder said that she would be leaving Mozilla Corporation at the end of the year. On March 1, 2010, Snyder began work at Apple Inc. as product manager responsible for the privacy and security of all Apple products.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-03-01 |title=Ex-Mozilla Security Chief Takes Job at Apple |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/190524/article.html |access-date=2021-02-21 |website=PCWorld |language=en}}</ref>
In 2015, Snyder became chief security officer at content distribution network Fastly.<ref>{{Cite press release |url=https://www.fastly.com/news-events/announcements-press-releases/fastly-adds-key-enterprise-security-leadership |title= Fastly Adds Key Enterprise Security Leadership }}</ref>
Intel's Software and Services Group senior vice president and general manager, Doug Fisher, announced in July 2018 that Snyder would become the company's Platforms Security Division's chief security officer, vice president and general manager.<ref name=Higgins2018>{{cite news|url=https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/intel-names-window-snyder-as-chief-software-security-officer/d/d-id/1332142|title=Intel Names Window Snyder as Chief Software Security Officer|last=Jackson Higgins|first=Kelly|date=June 25, 2018|publisher=DarkReading}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |url= https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/cybersecurity-community-driving-insights-security-solutions/ |first=Doug |last=Fisher |title= The Cybersecurity Community Driving Insights into Security Solutions }}</ref> She has since left Intel and in May 2019 joined Square, Inc.<ref name=":0">{{cite tweet|user=window|number=1135659552194490368|date=June 3, 2019|title=I started a new role at Square a couple weeks ago. Very excited to join the team!}}</ref>
On April 22, 2021, Snyder announced she had started a new company, [https://thistle.tech/ Thistle Technologies], which describes itself as providing a "secure foundation for devices."<ref>{{cite tweet|user=window|number=1385219896485761024|date=April 22, 2021|title=I started a company, Thistle Technologies. @thistlesec}}</ref>
==Works == * {{Citation |title=Threat Modeling; Microsoft professional |first1=Frank |last1=Swiderski |first2= Window |last2=Snyder |publisher=Microsoft Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7356-1991-3 }}
==Public appearances== Window Snyder has been appearing publicly to speak about challenges in computer security at several conferences and hackathons. In May 2017 Snyder spoke at Next Generation Threats, held by Techworld, IDG in Stockholm, Sweden.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snyder |first1=Window |title=Next Generation Threats 2017 |url=https://techworld.event.idg.se/event/ngt-stockholm-2017/ |website=Techworld |access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref> Earlier in April Snyder was a keynote speaker at HITBSecConf, held by Hack in the Box in Amsterdam.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snyder |first1=Window |title=HITBSecConf |url=http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2017ams/speakers/window-snyder/ |website=Hack in the Box |access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref> Later in November Snyder spoke at O'Reilly Security Conference.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://conferences.oreilly.com/security/sec-ny/public/schedule/speaker/1761|title=O'Reilly Security Conference|last1=Snyder|first1=Window|website=O'Reilly|access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref> In April 2018 she spoke at RSA Conference,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snyder |first1=Window |title=RSA Conference 2018 |url=https://www.rsaconference.com/events/us18/agenda/sessions/11601-Security-Programs-ROI-not-CYA |website=RSA Conference |access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref> and in August 2018 Snyder was a keynote speaker at the Open Source Summit held by the Linux Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/open-source-summit-north-america-2018/program/schedule/|title=Open Source Summit 2018|last1=Snyder|first1=Window|website=Linux Foundation|access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref>
She has talked about career paths of women in cybersecurity, as for example in a keynote at the Women in Tech Symposium on March 6, 2020, on the UC Berkeley campus.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-21|title=Cisco's Nather and Square's Snyder to keynote Women in Tech 2020|url=https://citris-uc.org/ciscos-nather-and-squares-snyder-to-keynote-women-in-tech-2020/|access-date=2020-06-10|website=CITRIS and the Banatao Institute|language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.dec.net/ws/ dec.net] (Snyder's blog) *[http://blog.mozilla.com/security Mozilla Security Blog - Window Snyder’s Blog] *[https://www.flickr.com/photos/windowsnyder/ Window Snyder's photos] (FlickR) *[http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/securecode/threatmodeling/default.aspx Security Developer Center: Threat Modeling] (Microsoft.com)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Window}} Category:Chief security officers Category:Living people Category:American people of Kenyan descent Category:Apple Inc. employees Category:Microsoft employees Category:Mozilla developers Category:Intel people Category:1975 births Category:Computer security specialists Category:African-American women engineers Category:21st-century American women engineers Category:21st-century American engineers Category:African-American engineers Category:21st-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American women