Howard Schmidt Holds Court

At a town hall meeting about the White Houses strategy to secure cyberspace, the former Microsoft CSO was in his element.

By Sarah D. Scalet

November 12, 2002 — CSO — First of all, lets get one thing straight: The Nov. 7 Town Hall meeting in New York to gather feedback on the draft of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace was not set up as an informal, school-cafeteria type of affair, where a crowd of concerned citizens would engage in rancorous debate with government officials. Instead, it was part of an orchestrated tour that the Presidents Critical Infrastructure Protection Board is using to sell a strategy widely derided as having no teeth.

CIPB Vice Chair Howard Schmidt and three other panelists were lined up at a long red table, set far back on the imposing black stage in the auditorium at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. In front of a podium with five flags, a parade of speakers posed for photo ops. They stood committed. They pledged support. They praised the local, state and federal government. Two cameras pointed back at the audience, where a few hundred mostly men in mostly suits clapped politely and waited for the main event: the moment they could step up to the microphones and give Schmidt & Co. a piece of their mind.

Schmidt, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Chris Painter from the Department of Justices Computer Crime and Intellectual Property section and Deb Peinert from the trade group Information Systems Security Association braced themselves for questions. They poured bottled water into wine glasses, then sipped it as they thumbed through bound copies of the draft. When the questions commenced, in no time at all it became clear why Schmidt was tapped for the job from his post as chief security officer at Microsoft. With the flair of a seasoned politician or a game show host, he can deftly field the most technical questions while also alluding to a close relationship with the likes of Bill Gates.

Instead of looking at computer hacking as a negative, how about treating that as a positive? asked someone from John Jay College, suggesting that the government register individuals and allow them to attempt to hack inside corporate computer networks and report on their findings. I know its counter to the way criminal justice thinks, but why not enlist the youth to attempt to do this?

I think the gentlemen youre talking about are called security consultants, Schmidt answered, and the snickers in the audience turned to laughter. There are some of them here, he said, paused for more laughter, and then gave a sound bite about education and scholarship programs.

• Print