Bonum Certa Men Certa

"VENOM" FUD Attack -- Like "Heartbleed" FUD Attack -- Linked to Microsoft

VENOM™ and Heartbleed™ do have something in common

Mike Convertino
From Microsoft management to CrowdStrike™ management



Summary: Why CrowdStrike™ is motivated to smear Free software and establish a stigma of insecurity in Free software-based virtual machines/'clouds'

The word/brand "Heartbleed" was made up by a Microsoft-connected firm -- a firm that is headed by Microsoft's former security chief. It basically took credit for a 2-year-old flaw that a Google engineer had found, publishing (along with a logo and a catchy brand name) dangerous details well before a patch could be made available and widely deployed/applied, i.e. it was an irresponsible disclosure.



CrowdStrike™ 'pulled a "Heartbleed"' in the sense that it followed some similar patterns (reminiscent of the above). XFaCE, a regular from our IRC channels, diverted our attention to the press release "CrowdStrike™ Appoints Amol Kulkarni as Vice President Engineering", dated Dec 9, 2014 (less than half a year ago).

"Former Microsoft Bing Engineering Leader [leaving a dead/dying effort] joins Executive Team at CrowdStrike," says the press release.

"Why is it that we so often find out-of-proportion scare (or FUD) against Free software linked to Microsoft and its 'former' staff or close partners?"More important a find, however, is the background of Mike Convertino from the company's leadership team. The introduction is very telling; rather than hide his background it is noting: "Prior to his work at CrowdStrike, Convertino was the Senior Director of Network Security at Microsoft where he was responsible for protecting all of the company’s networks from intrusion and exploitation."

So the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

"They also use Microsoft Office extensively, given their job ads," XFaCE added.

"Adam Meyers, "VP of Intelligence" at CrowdStrike™, used to work for SRA International," XFaCE says. According to Wikipedia, "SRA provides information technology services to clients in national security, civil government, and health care and public health. Its largest market, national security, includes the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, US Army, US Air Force, and intelligence agencies."

"Microsoft is a partner," says XFaCE. George Kurtz, the CEO and co-founder of CrowdStrike, comes from McAfee, a common and frequent source of anti-Linux and anti-Android FUD. The famed Scottish-American founder of McAfee is now a fugitive.

Why is it that we so often find out-of-proportion scare (or FUD) against Free software linked to Microsoft and its 'former' staff or close partners? ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brigading Against Women - Part VII - 'Trolling' Courts and Legal Systems in America and in the UK (Europe) Costs a Lot to Taxpayers
They only attend hearings after being arrested
Dejan Panovski Outs linuxize.com as a Slopfarm, Another Site That Sold Out and Became LLM Garbage
From what we can gather, both images and text are slop
A Microsoft Lunduke OS (LCOS) is Not Even in Top 100 in DistroWatch, Microsoft Lunduke Just Games the Numbers Like Linspire Did (and Got 'Banned' for It)
Linspire used to send people to 'its' DistroWatch page to make the illusion of popularity
 
Links 28/09/2026: Microsoft Chatbot "Giving Extremely Specific Advice to a School Shooter on How to Maximize Casualties", ‘Suicidal Empathy’
Links for the day
Microsoft's Attacks on Courts in the Netherlands Result in GNU/Linux Growing to About 10% There
One core issue that justified this and led to this outcome is Microsoft's interference with the administration of justice
They Create the Conditions for People to Leave, This Way They Don't Call it "Layoffs"
We keep seeing many stories like these
Gemini Links 28/09/2026: Wildfire, DOS, and Backups
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Portuguese Talent For Bureaucratic Empire Building
Portugal’s success in securing senior executive appointments at the EUIPO and the EPO is a notable example of how countries seek to strengthen their influence within European intergovernmental institutions
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 27, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 27, 2026
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Writing Well, Productivity, and a Relaunch in Geminispace
Links for the day
Making This Site More Useful to More People
Search engines (as a concept) are under attack
Exposing Crimes of Americans (From the UK)
We must ensure UK prisons are never misused to punish/silence people who expose crimes in America
Spam and Chatbot Spam in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Maintaining one's own IRC network requires some housekeeping, but it's simpler than outsourcing to malicious companies
Search Engine of Techrights Improved for Better Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Our growing community needs more search facilities
Microsoft: We Love Layoffs, We Do Silent Layoffs, More Microsoft Projects/Teams/Studios Confirmed to be Shutting Down
XBox is dying. Piece by piece.
Brigading Against Women - Part VI - On Garrett and Lozza, Defamation, Attempts to Crack My Wife's Accounts, Social Engineering to Try to Take Sites Offline, Subscribing Us to Mountains of SPAM
tried swatting us
Links 27/09/2026: "Provost of Dartmouth Busted Using Hey Hi (AI) Slop for His Own Writing in Newspapers and Academic Journals" and "UK Government Enforcement Reform"
Links for the day
People and Sites Wish a Happy 43th Birthday to GNU (Today)
We've collected some examples
Links 27/09/2026: Microsoft Fired People a Day After Promotion, "Fragility of Online Journalism"
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part V - SWATTING, Extortion Against Webhosts, and Lawfare Under Sworn Oath (Perjury Also)
Matthew Garrett has no qualm about still collaborating with Lozza
20 Years Later
There's a strong anti-democracy movement brewing in many places
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Telescopes/Gskyer, Writing for Writing's Sake, and Writing Tools
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 26, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 26, 2026
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Computer Cases Dreary, Web Drowning in Botspam
Links for the day
Reform UK auditor: Electoral Commission accounts, Companies House accounts, a going concern or not?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Temporary Public Office or Permanent Personal Feather-Bed?
there are no visible signs that the Administrative Council has the slightest interest in contemplating a change in leadership at the EPO
Brigading Against Women - Part IV - Death Threats, Threats to Women, and Threats for Pointing Out, Correctly and Based on Hard Evidence, That Garrett and Lozza Talk to Each Other About Me Every Year (for 4 Years)
Brett Wilson LLP too is a toxic manosphere
More GAFAM Layoffs at Apple, Second Time in Weeks (Silent Layoffs Silently Target Older and "More Expensive" Staff)
How many layoffs happen at Apple silently and go unreported or very scarcely reported?
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Rant About Slop Ruining Crafts (Drowning the Signal With Plagiarism) and "Going Mechanical"
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2026: Microsoft Says Notification Data Breach/Surveillance Hole There by Design, EU Rapidly Dumping Microsoft for Digital Sovereignty
Links for the day
The Former Linux News Site ostechnix.com is LLM Slop
Please do not link to sites that promote and/or spread slop
Links 26/09/2026: Volkswagen Recalling ~50,000 Cars, US Attacks Its Own Media
Links for the day
Making Oneself Obsolete With Slop
Dr. Lemire also puts on display a degree of hypocrisy
Brigading Against Women - Part III - Racism Looms Large, Not Just Sexism
threats from a racist
Microsoft CEO Calls Layoffs "Streamlining" and Says Microsoft Layoffs Are "Great to See"
The lack of honesty here is only to be expected from Microsoft
Media silence deafening as Reform UK on brink of administration
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Travel, Group Insurance Death Spiral, Stargazing, and Lagrange Meets LLM Slop
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 25, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 25, 2026