Hacker joins US govt

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon security conferences, is one of 16 people appointed to the US Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), states InformationWeek.

The HSAC is composed of individuals with extensive security and policy experience from state and local government, the private sector, and academia.

Moss used to work in information security for Ernst and Young and as a director of Secure Computing. As an online hacker he goes by the name Dark Tangent.

Platform Computing, a developer of grid and cloud computing software, has appointed Ram Gupta to its board of directors to oversee the company's cloud computing strategy, says Trading Markets.

The company says that Gupta will provide guidance based on his experience of strategic marketing and management expertise at global technology companies, including PeopleSoft, WebMD, Silicon Graphics, IBM and Tata Consultancy Services.

Gupta says that the cloud computing market is just beginning to crystallise.

Java application company Phurnace Software has appointed Mike Turner, former CEO and co-founder of Waveset Technologies, to its board of directors, states eMedia Wire.

Turner is the fifth appointee to the company's board. When Turner was CEO of Waveset, he received the Austin under-40 award for technology and business innovation and was a finalist for the Ernst and Young 'Entrepreneur of the year' award.

Turner now serves as a judge for the Ernst and Young 'Social entrepreneur of the year' award and is a guest lecturer and Moot Corp Judge at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.