Apparently, some Google presenters are claiming that we can do away with the testing cycles in our software development life cycles? There’s been plenty of reaction to Alberto Savoia’s Keynote in 2011. But I ran into this again this Spring (2013)! So, I’m sorry to bring this up again, but I want to try for a security-focused statement…

The initial security posture of a piece of software is dependent upon the security requirements for that particular piece of software or system. In fact, the organizational business model influences an organization’s security requirements, which in turn influence the kinds of testing that any particular software or system will need before and after release. We don’t sell and deliver software in a vacuum.

Google certainly present a compelling case for user-led bug hunting. Their bounty programme works! But there are important reasons that Google can pull off user-led testing for some of their applications when other businesses might die trying.

It’s important to understand Google’s business model and infrastructure in order to understand a business driven bounty programme.

• Google’s secured application infrastructure
• Build it and they might come
• If they come, how to make money?
• If Google can’t monetize, can they build user base?

First and foremost, Google’s web application execution environment has got to have a tremendous amount of security built into it. Any application deployed to that infrastructure inherits many security controls. (I’ll exclude Android and mobility, since these are radically different) Google applications don’t have to implement identity systems, authorization models, user profiles, document storage protection, and the panoply of administrative and network security systems that any commercial, industrial strength cloud must deploy and run successfully. Indeed, I’m willing to guess that each application Google deploys runs within a certain amount of sandboxed isolation such that failure of that application cannot impact the security and performance of the other applications running on the infrastructure. In past lives, this is precisely how we built large application farms: sandbox and isolation. When a vulnerable application gets exploited, other applications sharing the infrastructure cannot be touched.We also made escape from the sandbox quite  difficult in order to protect the underlying infrastructure. Google would be not only remiss, but clueless to allow buggy applications to run in any less isolating environment. And, I’ve met lots of very smart Google folk! Scary smart.

Further, from what I’ve been told, Google has long since implemented significant protections for our Google Docs. Any application that needs to store documents inherits this document storage security. (I’ve been told that Google employ some derivation of Shamir’s Threshold Scheme such that unless an attacker can obtain M of N  stored versions of a document, the attacker gains no data whatsoever. This also thwarts the privileged insider attack)

My simple point is that Google is NOT entirely relying upon its external testers, its bug bounty programme. A fair amount of security is inherent and inherited by Google’s web application experiments.

And, we must understand Google’s business model. As near as I can tell from the outside, Google throws a lot of application “spaghetti” onto the Web. If an application “sticks”, that is, attracts a user base, then Google figure out how to monetize the application. If the application can’t be monetized, Google may still support the application for marketing (popularity, brand enhancement) purposes. Applications that don’t generate interest are summarily terminated.

In my opinion, Google’s business model leaves a lot of wiggle room for buggy software. Many of these experiments have low expectations, perhaps no expectation at the outset? This gives Google time to clean the code as the application builds user base and penetration. If nobody is dependent upon an application, then there’s not a very high security posture requirement. In other words, Google can take time to find the “right product”. This is entirely opposite for security function that must deliver protection independent of any support (like on an end point that can be offline). Users expect security software to be correct on installation: the product has to be built “right”, right from the start.

And, the guts of Google are most likely protected from any nasty vulnerabilities. So, user testing makes a lot of business sense and does not pose a brand risk.

Compare this with an endpoint security product from an established and trusted brand. Not only must the software actually protect the customer’s endpoint, it’s got to work when the endpoint is not connected to anything, much less the Internet (i.e., can’t “phone home”). Additionally, security software must meet a very high standard for not degrading the posture of the target system. That is, the software shouldn’t install vulnerabilities that can be abused alongside the software’s intended functionality. Security software must meet a very high standard of security quality. That’s the nature of the business model.

I would argue that security software vendors don’t have a great deal of wiggle room for user-discovery of vulnerabilities. Neither do medical records software, nor financials. These applications must try to be as clean as possible from the get go. Imagine if your online banking site left its vulnerability discovery to the user community. I think it’s not too much of a leap to imagine the loss in customer confidence that this approach might entail?

I’ll state the obvious: different businesses demand different security postures and have different periods of grace for security bugs. Any statement that makes a claim across these differences is likely spurious.

Google, in light of these obvious differences, may I ask your pundits to speak for your own business, rather than assuming that you may speak for all business models, rather than trumpeting a “new world order”? Everyone, may I encourage us to pay attention to the assumptions inherent in claims? Not all software is created equally, and that’s a “Good Thing” ™.

By the way, Brook Schoenfield is an active Google+ user. I don’t intend to slam Google’s products in any manner. Thank you, Google, for the great software that I use every day.

cheers

/brook