Microsoft Hires Former McAfee VP

It's been some time since yours truly or anyone at Infopackets reported on Microsoft security. After a typhoon of activity earlier this summer with the release of OneCare Live and then the controversial Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), the Redmond-based company has remained relatively hush on its plans for protecting itself and its paying customers. However, Microsoft again enters the spotlight with a recent announcement regarding former McAfee veteran, Vincent Gullotto. (Source: hackinthebox.org)

Once dubbed by CNET News to be the industry's "Virus Hunter", Gullotto has in recent years been in charge of McAfee's Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team, or AVERT. AVERT and Gullotto took it upon themselves to examine and prepare for the thousands of potential malicious code threats available online, doing their damndest to keep up with equally aggressive malware goons and virus creators.

Gullotto, who was in charge of AVERT, reportedly directed the team through some 25 malicious sets of code a day, or nearly 10,000 a year. (Source: news.com)

Gullotto departed McAfee earlier this year, but did not immediately join Microsoft. Instead, he worked in the interim with Symantec Corp., another security provider. Although most sources have been unclear on Gullotto's role, Infopackets has learned that he will be the Microsoft's general manager of Security Research and Response. (Source: techtarget.com)

After years of service with security giant McAfee and a prestigious vice president post with AVERT, Gullotto is a key hiring for Microsoft, which is still relatively new to the protection business. If anything, the introduction of Gullotto shows that Microsoft is dead serious about providing long-term security for its products and customers. It might be especially interesting to see how a powerful figure like Gullotto deals with the bungled WGA controversy.

Only time will tell.