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I don't get the use-case for this. In other replies, you claim it's protection against "Ransomware, malware, virii, browser exploits, zero days", but all peopl

I don't get the use-case for this. In other replies, you claim it's protection against "Ransomware, malware, virii, browser exploits, zero days", but all people are really doing are trusting you instead of other sites. Plus, in my experience, ransomware and malware are more often spread through email attachments and other downloads, not browser exploits or other zero-day bugs. I'm guessing users can't download through your service, so they're just going to switch out when they think they need to download something. --Otherwise you have to take responsibility for scanning the download first and I doubt you're able to guarantee that you're better at scanning content than any other anti-virus and malware vendor. So the only people I can see who might benefit from this tool are those have the skills to spin up a VM and perform their risky browsing from there.

slowenough 7y ago
This is really great criticism of the business, thank you for this. I have not given much thought to downloads yet. This will indeed be a challenge. As you insightfully identify, many businesses are concerned with remotely rendered email integration, and making downloads safe again. Positioning as a vertically-integrated supplier is challenging. For instance, how to compete with Symantec who have their own high quality scanners? I don't plan to get into the threat detection business. It might be possible to sell or license to one in the space however. Or to integrate 3rd-party scanning tech as a first-class part of the product, or offer to build integrations with a customer's existing SWG solution. There's no simple answers to these challenges. I look forward to making something that works to address these concerns. Edit: This has also given me an idea. If the challenges you pinpoint make it too hard to compete with the existing RBI suppliers, it might work for BrowserGap to become a browsing tool for advanced users. Or I could be overfitting such a model based on the feedback of HN which skews toward technical specialization. In any case, please make more feedback if you have it. I appreciate your look at this.

slowenough 7y ago

This is really great criticism of the business, thank you for this. I have not given much thought to downloads yet. This will indeed be a challenge. As you insightfully identify, many businesses are concerned with remotely rendered email integration, and making downloads safe again. Positioning as a vertically-integrated supplier is challenging. For instance, how to compete with Symantec who have their own high quality scanners? I don't plan to get into the threat detection business. It might be possible to sell or license to one in the space however. Or to integrate 3rd-party scanning tech as a first-class part of the product, or offer to build integrations with a customer's existing SWG solution. There's no simple answers to these challenges. I look forward to making something that works to address these concerns. Edit: This has also given me an idea. If the challenges you pinpoint make it too hard to compete with the existing RBI suppliers, it might work for BrowserGap to become a browsing tool for advanced users. Or I could be overfitting such a model based on the feedback of HN which skews toward technical specialization. In any case, please make more feedback if you have it. I appreciate your look at this.