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Oh no, Google is benefiting from investing in security research. Damn if they do, damn if they don't
by ddalex 3y ago
Oh no, Google is benefiting from investing in security research. Damn if they do, damn if they don't
- kortilla 3y agoFunny how they used to do it before GCP when the company had a moral backbone.
- nolist_policy 3y agoHow did they do it before?
- kortilla 3y agoFor the good of the broader Internet/society. Like an academic research institution. Value to Google came in the form of attracting top talent because it indicated it was more than a version of oracle/ibm focused on nothing but money making. It also came in the form of feedback on how to improve software security in general. Google was also able to tap the team resources to look into the security of a new proposal. 8 years ago if the notion of “we’ll sit on vulnerabilities, patch them in our products, and use that as advertising for the products” came up, it would be laughed out of the room. People joined project zero to do cutting edge research and improve the world, not to line Google’s pockets through early disclosure access.
- ddalex 3y ago"We like the results of security research, but to be concerned about money is bad taste".
- kortilla 3y agoWhen you pitch a team as research, it’s in very bad taste. Google used to set itself apart from Oracle by not tying stupid commercial interests to teams like that. The reputation damage to that team for being tangled in GCP shilling is subtle but immense. Pure security researchers will be driven away by this kind of thing and just stick with academia or other research institutions.