Michael Howard and David LeBlanc, authors of "Writing Secure Code," are very excited to be receiving the RSA Industry Innovation Award. As members of Microsoft's Secure Windows Initiative team, Howard and LeBlanc published "Writing Secure Code" (now in its second edition) to provide software developers with a better understanding of the processes and practices needed to produce sound software code. Howard and LeBlanc's book is the cornerstone of the security training programs developed during the implementation of the Trustworthy Computing initiative. During the Windows platform security push, product development at Microsoft was halted for more than two months as software developers attended, and then implemented, mandatory security training all based on the "Writing Secure Code" book.

Thousands of product managers and testers from across the company have now been trained in writing secure code as part of the Trustworthy Computing Initiative. Since being introduced internally at Microsoft, "Writing Secure Code" has become the definitive security resource for software developers and engineers at Microsoft. In addition, "Writing Secure Code" is being adapted into textbook format for university computer science courses by Addison-Wesley. The success of Howard and LeBlanc's book and curriculum underscores the industry's need for secure coding guidelines and the importance of educating developers about the value of secure software in today's computing landscape.