In her nearly 25-year career in cybersecurity, Snyder was part of a group of people who pushed Microsoft in the early days of the mainstream internet to finally take cybersecurity seriously by embracing the notion that security needed to be part of the software development cycle — not bolted on afterward — and played a significant role in developing the first versions of the Windows operating systems that implemented that idea. She also helped convince the company that outside researchers, who were keen on pointing out flaws in Microsoft’s products, were actually allies, not enemies.
In Cupertino, she managed Apple’s privacy and security teams. There, as part of a project she called “Apple Doesn’t Have Your Data,” she successfully lobbied and worked on enabling encryption by default in all Apple-made computers, iPhones and iPads, and iMessage, helping lay the foundations for the company’s reputation as a cybersecurity giant.
