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It continually depresses me that privacy and software security products have such a difficult time. I very much hope that Silent Circle makes it, but the landsc
by alister 10y ago
It continually depresses me that privacy and software security products have such a difficult time. I very much hope that Silent Circle makes it, but the landscape is littered with privacy/security products that went nowhere.
But there have been some billion-dollar success stories. Off the top of my head, they are:
(1) Security Dynamics who invented the little token with ever-changing 6-digit numbers that you have to enter to login to your remote office computer. You probably know it today as the RSA SecurID:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/RSA-SecurID-Tokens.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/RSA-Secu...
The hardware was simple (microcontroller, real time clock, and an LCD display) and the proof of concept for the software could've been written in an afternoon by a crypto-knowledgable programmer. I genuinely admire this idea as having the least amount of technical development required to create a billion-dollar market.
(2) Paper shredders. Fellowes created a billion-dollar market for personal shredders. Seriously, before this market existed, if you told the average Joe that they needed a shredder for their home, you would have been laughed at. Then came along all the brouhaha about identity theft, and now Office Depot and Staples sell dozens of home models.
(3) Firewalls. When I first heard the concept of a network firewall--and this is going back a long time--my first thought was "What a stupid idea, why don't they instead fix the bugs that would allow you to penetrate the network?" Turns out to be a multi-billion dollar market.
(4) Password managers like LastPass and 1Password. I doubt these have reached a billion in sales, but I figure they will.
(5) Certificate authorities. An early implementation of that idea made Mark Shuttleworth into a billionaire with enough money to visit the International Space Station just for fun.
Looking at the list, the threats are sometimes abstract. I do have a home shredder, but I'll admit that it's very unlikely I'd be a victim of identity theft if I never shredded. However, the threat that Silent Circle addresses is proven worldwide surveillance, yet it's a much harder sale. It's very difficult to predict what privacy/security product will succeed.
- danieltillett 10y agoGreat list. I am wondering what is going to be next?
- andrey_utkin 10y agoOpen Source Hardware?
- lisper 10y agohttps://sc4.us/hsm/ https://sc4.us/hsm/
- wepple 10y ago2FA. As much as I like password managers, I feel like they're solving a problem that has come about because our method of authenticating users hasn't kept up with developments in tech. some kind of 2FA variation (probably not what we currently have) that uses trust chains anchored at individuals will hopefully revolutionize authC. Duo, Yubikey, etc are all really effective steps in the right direction if not already great products that are actually effective and do what they say they will. mass market is the next hurdle.
- yardie 10y agoGreat list. I would also add PayPal. I know not everyone likes them but most people never had to do online payments before it was a thing. When you had to write a check and put it in the mail. Or even worse, give whoever ACH access to do whatever with your bank account.
- busterarm 10y agoInternet porn billing/Paycom came some time before PayPal. See movie "Middle Men" for reference.
- yardie 10y agoI have no doubt there were many before PayPal. If you weren't looking for porn or looking to pay for it then there weren't a lot of options. Especially, in the early days of the WWW. When there was an actual yellow pages of the entirety of the web.
- 2close4comfort 10y agoI would think that with Zimmerman and Callas that there could have been the chance to create a secure android. If it was possible I would say they should have been the guys, with recent departures I would say that they are no longer interested in that vision of the product.
- wepple 10y agoYeah I thought the same thing. Although, if Telegram is any indication, mass market is not a matter of how strong your implementation is, more of a marketing/business problem to be solved.
- 2close4comfort 10y agoI think that is the most depressing part...
- Aradalf 10y agoIs Telegram not secure?
- Canada 10y agoNo, it's not.
- senectus1 10y agonot entirely true... its authentication can be subverted allowing impersonation. but its a lot more secure than some....
- wepple 10y agoAt a minimum, they've made a number of choices which go against (fairly widely considered) good cryptographic principles. This in itself wouldn't even be that bad if they weren't then trying pretty hard to convince the general public that it's super secure with massively flawed stunts as explained here: https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/ https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/