Mike Walker on how hacker culture shaped his cybersecurity career

What happened

Microsoft Research Manager Mike Walker discusses how his fascination with rules and participation in hacker culture led to a career in cyber defense, including developing the first all-machine hacking tournament. In conversation with Microsoft Research’s Weishung Liu, he reflects on trust and social context in security, teamwork and collective intelligence in competitive hacking, and leadership.

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The story so far

Microsoft Research Manager Mike Walker discussed how his fascination with rules and participation in hacker culture led him into cyber defense, including developing the first all-machine hacking tournament. In a conversation with Microsoft Research’s Weishung Liu, Walker reflected on how trust and social context shape security work, and how competitive hacking can draw on teamwork and collective intelligence. They also discussed leadership.