US based New Zealander Michael Howard has had a massive impact in reducing Cyber Security risk globally and currently advises on security in relation to Microsoft's Azure cloud computing services.

On this NZ Tech Podcast episode we hear career insights and advice from Michael - including how he came to convince Microsoft Founder Bill Gates of the importance of writing secure code - which lead to Gates famous company-wide memo on Trustworthy computing in January 2002. This changed the course of how Microsoft developed software and over time is considered to have had a profound impact in how software is written around the world.

Michael, a Senior Principal Cybersecurity Architect, started at Microsoft in Auckland in 1992, and has worked in the field of software security for over twenty years. He is a founder and architect of the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL).

eWeek magazine selected Howard as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in IT”, one of “The 25 Most Influential People at Microsoft” and one of “The 15 Most Influential People in Security.”
Michael was the application security lead for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil and worked on state election systems during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Michael is the author of many software security-related books over a period of nearly 20-years and co-hosts the Azure Security Podcast.

NZ Tech Podcast
Paul Spain
Gorilla Technology
Free Tesla Supercharging

Special thanks to organisations who support innovation and tech leadership in New Zealand by partnering with NZ Tech Podcast:

Umbrellar Connect
Sumo Logic
Vodafone NZ
HP
Samsung
Spark NZ
Vocus