Security Track Speaker Bits- Tom Hollander

So for our next Speaker Introduction we have Tom Hollander who graciously agreed to give a session at tech Ed after I begged him to share his awesome wisdom around how to create a secure development framework.

Bio:

Tom Hollander is a Solution Architect in Microsoft’s Solutions Development Centre in Sydney, responsible for driving the technical design and delivery of complex customer projects. Prior to joining this team, Tom spent over three years in Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond working as a product manager in the patterns & practices team. In this role Tom helped deliver many patterns & practices deliverables including Enterprise Library, the Guidance Automation Toolkit and Web Service Software Factory. Tom is a frequent blogger on patterns & practices and architecture topics, at https://blogs.msdn.com/tomholl.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

At once stage I wanted to be a “real” architect, meaning someone that designs actual buildings.

What got you started in the IT Security Arena?

Being an a developer and an architect, I had no choice but to become interested in security.

What do you like most about your job?

Working with a fantastic team and seeing progress day by day.

If you had a magic wand that fixed things with a single flick, what are the top three things you’d fix about IT Security?

Ignorance and stupidity of (some) end users.

The SMTP protocol.

The need to establish different credentials on every system.

Is this your first time presenting at Tech Ed Australia / New Zealand? If not, how many times have you presented down here?

No, I think it’s my 3rd time.

What are you looking forward to presenting on most at Tech Ed this year?

All of the cool stuff I’ve learned from working on my current project.

If your audience only takes one thing away from your session(s), what would you like that to be?

That security needs to be top of mind every day for everyone in a development team.

What are you looking forward to most about Tech Ed Australia / New Zealand?

Going to New Zealand again J. Nothing against Sydney but I’m here every day!