Google Switches Away from Windows (Mostly to Mac) Due to Security Concerns

LOL. Of course there is more here than they are saying. Google is in all-out competition with Microsoft (in online advertising, browsers, OS platforms and Office/cloud apps), and is only partially competing with Apple (in phone OSs). Google and Apple also, reportedly, have a reasonable relationship, despite the competition.

One can claim it's about security (an area where MS is still weak, after about a decade of intensive work), but it's also about not giving money or bragging rights to your competitor.

SW

 

The first thing they teach you in any IT security course is that ALL systems/OS's can be exploited, and then teach generic/common ways to mitigate attacks (firewalls, ports, etc). To switch OS's because of security is silly, it's better to make sure the current system is better secured.

It would be like saying "Someone is listening to our phone conversations, so from now on we will switch our conversations from English to Latvian, because Latvian is a small, obscure language understood by only about 3 million people worldwide and we could reduce eavesdropping".

Wouldn't it be better to just keep speaking English, but just encrypt your conversations? Of course you can do both, but how long and how much effort will it take for everyone in your company to learn Latvian? And translate all documents into Latvian? Changing OS's is about the same thing, it's a major change, and for not much protection in return. A casual attacker may hear Latvian and say "WTF is that?" and give up, but a determined attacker will simply go learn Latvian

Google must know this, and I think there must be another (probably political) reason for any change of OS.

 

Google Dropping Windows over Security? Good Luck with That

Google Dropping Windows over Security? Good Luck with That
By Tony Bradley, PC World


Sources from within Google are claiming that the online search and advertising giant is implementing an official transition away from the Microsoft Windows operating system. According to the reports, the culture shift is intended to reduce security concerns. That makes a compelling headline--especially for a Microsoft rival developing its own operating system--but it doesn't make a very good security strategy.

On one level, it makes perfect sense for Google to abandon Windows. Google has always been a bitter rival of Microsoft, and Google's Android mobile operating system and upcoming Chrome operating system are built on Linux. Of course Google should avoid generating additional revenue for Microsoft and rely on the platform that forms the foundation of what Google expects its customers to use.

Another area where Google should eat its own proverbial dog food is with Web browsers. The Chrome Web browser has been gaining market share since its launch, but it was a zero-day flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser that was exploited to compromise systems and steal data from Google earlier this year. With the exception of key developers that might need to see how things render in IE, users at Google should ostensibly not be using the competing browser.

That brings us to the claim that security concerns are behind the move to abandon Windows. The reports suggest that Google has banned the use of Windows in response to the Operation Aurora attacks which Google alleged were state-sponsored attacks from the Chinese government.

The flaw in that logic is that it assumes the attacker would be unable to compromise alternative platforms like Linux or Mac OS X. Microsoft Windows--by virtue of its dominant market share--is the target of the vast majority of general malware attacks, so switching from Windows may reduce the daily operational risks. But, when it comes to precision, targeted attacks, alternative OS platforms don't provide any better defense so dropping Windows would not have prevented the Operation Aurora attacks.

In fact, alternative platforms may arguably make a precision attack that much easier. The Mac OS X platform has an illusion of superior security because malware developers don't care to invest time and resources developing exploits that only work on five percent of the possible targets. However, year after year Mac OS X is compromised in a matter of minutes--or even seconds--in the annual Pwn2Own contest.

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Other reports said the transition away from Windows started in January. I believe the buzz is louder now because Chrome OS will be viable very soon--I'm not sure where the "mostly Macs" slant to the story came from.

I assume this is more related to competition than just security. iPhones are frowned upon at Microsoft, and I think the word Microsoft in general is frowned upon at Google. I would guess Mac is only passable at Google right now.

 

There's another pretty large company here in the valley that uses mostly Windows laptops. However, the security R&D group is not allowed to use those, so they all use MacBooks. The company is not in competition with any of those other companies mentioned in the thread.

RR, encrypting the conversation is only more effective if the encryption keys are not stored on Windows machines

 

...then it's a good thing I can speak Estonian

 

Yes, you'll be highly sought after for breaking alternate encryption techniques