Mozilla taps former MS executive for security

Mozilla Corp. has hired a former Microsoft Corp. security strategist to help lock down its open source products against online attacks.

Window Snyder, whose hiring was announced Wednesday, worked on Microsoft's security driven Windows XP Service Pack 2 update. She also had a role in the development of Windows Server 2003.

Snyder will take charge of Mozilla Corp.'s security strategy, a role previously handled by Mozilla's vice president of engineering, Mike Schroepfer.

"Window has joined MozCorp recently as our new "Chief Security Something" (that's a working title)," said Schroepfer in a blog posting. "She'll be the public voice of Mozilla Corporation on security issues and helping to drive our long-term security strategy."

With hackers finding new and more sophisticated ways to compromise browser security, browser makers such as Mozilla need to keep pace, said Avivah Litan, an analyst with the Gartner Inc. research firm.

And as Mozilla has become more popular, security has become even more important, she said. "The attacks have really been targeted toward the 90 percent of the population using IE, but as their percentage of the browser population goes up, they have more need for [security]," she said.

Mozilla's Firefox is now used by nearly 13 percent of Web surfers, according to Web analytics firm OneStat.com. Microsoft's Internet Explorer has about 86 percent marketshare, the company estimates.