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I feel there’s a bit of a disconnect here between Google’s Ads division who are looking to basically do the bare minimum to avoid getting repeatedly spanked pri

by mdhb 2y ago

I feel there’s a bit of a disconnect here between Google’s Ads division who are looking to basically do the bare minimum to avoid getting repeatedly spanked primarily by the EU but also now with talk of a breakup in the US and most other parts of Google who I say this entirely unironically are by far the best of all major options with regards to security in both the browser and their public cloud offerings. I’d even extend that possibly to operating systems as well. ChromeOS is miles in front of anything else out there currently but on mobile Android has historically lagged behind iOS although that gap is close to indistinguishable in 2024.

themoonisachees 2y ago
It is not my intention to be contrarian, but honestly this might be the most incorrect comment I've ever read on hacker news, in several different ways. Sure, some of these might be subjective, but for example chromeOS is Linux with a shiny coat in top, how could it be any better than, well, Linux, let alone miles ahead?
- ewoodrich 2y ago
  ChromeOS uses the Linux kernel but unless you enable developer mode (which has multiple levels of scary warnings including on every boot and requires completely wiping the device to enable) everything runs in the Chrome web sandbox or the Android VM. A ChromeOS user isn't apt-get installing binaries or copy/pasting bash one liners from Github. If you enable the Linux dev environment, that also runs in an isolated VM with a much more limited attack surface vs say an out of the box Ubuntu install. Both the Android VM and Linux VM can and routinely are blocked by MDM in school or work contexts. You could lock down a Linux install with SELinux policies and various other restrictions but on ChromeOS it's the default mode that 99% of users are protected by (or limited by depending on your perspective).
  - mdhb 2y ago
    Even when you enable “developer mode” which is essentially Debian in a VM the level of care that went into making sure that no matter what happens there you will never suffer a full system compromise is truly impressive. To give you a sense of where they were half a decade ago you can already see that it’s as I described miles in front of anything that exists even today in this video: https://youtu.be/pRlh8LX4kQI https://youtu.be/pRlh8LX4kQI When we get to talking about when they went for a total ground up first principles approach with Fuchsia as a next generation operating system that is something else entirely on a different level again. I genuinely didn’t have a hint of irony in my original comment. They are actually that much better when it comes to security.
maeil 2y ago
> on mobile Android has historically lagged behind iOS although that gap is close to indistinguishable in 2024. This is true, but unfortunately in the negative sense: both are as insecure as each other, i.e. pwned. [1] [1] https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-july-2024-documentation https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-ju...

by mdhb 2y ago

themoonisachees 2y ago

It is not my intention to be contrarian, but honestly this might be the most incorrect comment I've ever read on hacker news, in several different ways. Sure, some of these might be subjective, but for example chromeOS is Linux with a shiny coat in top, how could it be any better than, well, Linux, let alone miles ahead?

ewoodrich 2y ago
ChromeOS uses the Linux kernel but unless you enable developer mode (which has multiple levels of scary warnings including on every boot and requires completely wiping the device to enable) everything runs in the Chrome web sandbox or the Android VM. A ChromeOS user isn't apt-get installing binaries or copy/pasting bash one liners from Github. If you enable the Linux dev environment, that also runs in an isolated VM with a much more limited attack surface vs say an out of the box Ubuntu install. Both the Android VM and Linux VM can and routinely are blocked by MDM in school or work contexts. You could lock down a Linux install with SELinux policies and various other restrictions but on ChromeOS it's the default mode that 99% of users are protected by (or limited by depending on your perspective).
- mdhb 2y ago
  Even when you enable “developer mode” which is essentially Debian in a VM the level of care that went into making sure that no matter what happens there you will never suffer a full system compromise is truly impressive. To give you a sense of where they were half a decade ago you can already see that it’s as I described miles in front of anything that exists even today in this video: https://youtu.be/pRlh8LX4kQI https://youtu.be/pRlh8LX4kQI When we get to talking about when they went for a total ground up first principles approach with Fuchsia as a next generation operating system that is something else entirely on a different level again. I genuinely didn’t have a hint of irony in my original comment. They are actually that much better when it comes to security.

maeil 2y ago

> on mobile Android has historically lagged behind iOS although that gap is close to indistinguishable in 2024. This is true, but unfortunately in the negative sense: both are as insecure as each other, i.e. pwned. [1] [1] https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-july-2024-documentation https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-ju...