For some, rules pose limitations. For others, like Microsoft Research Manager Mike Walker, they’re opportunities. 

Walker’s fascination with rules and their role in the social order has allowed him to find success professionally and personally, from uncovering weaknesses in networked systems to redefining how computers are trained to fend off cyberattacks to pushing the limits of a reliable mode of transportation—the bicycle—in ultra-endurance racing. 

In this conversation with Principal Technical Program Manager Weishung Liu, Walker describes how his participation in hacker culture led him to a career building next-generation cyber defense, including his work developing the first all-machine hacking tournament. Along the way, he reflects on why effective security depends on understanding trust and context, what competitive hacking taught him about teamwork and collective intelligence, and how an early lesson reshaped his understanding of leadership. He also tackles an important question: are today’s networked systems any safer than they were a decade ago?

MIKE WALKER: Well, you have to understand the rules if you want to be able to do what you want. So I have, I have a definite fascination with the rules, [LAUGHTER] but the thing you have to understand about the rules is that rules are a social construct. And I think that a lot of … in the computer security field, when, when people hear the word “security” and they think about the rules that the security system is imposing on them, every time a security system asks something of users, then you’re asking for their trust.

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