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PurpleBoxDragon | 7 years ago

>There are cases that I'm all for bashing Google when they don't give the company they're targeting enough time to patch something

While I understand the common ethos of our current culture supports this, has there been analysis if giving what could constitute a second chance to fix security issues leads to less prioritization of security initially? I could definitely see a business deciding to lower their security expenditure since if an issue is found, they will be given a grace window to fix it before the world hears about it. It would still be damaging, but it would be far less since the PR machine could spit out that it was patched before it was announced to the world.

There has to have been some agreement to limit the grace period since people will go live once a reasonable time frame to fix it has passed and they won't be judged negatively if others agree reasonable time was given. So if we won't judge someone for giving only 6 months instead of 3 years, what about the one who gives only 2 weeks instead of 6 months? How do we calculate which of two time frames is better?

discuss

order

jsgo|7 years ago

I imagine they share proof of concept 100% of the time, and if that is the case, I’d say it varies: target a window, say 2 months. At that point, show progress on the bug to Google (or whoever). If at the 2 month mark it is obvious it was low priority and not really looked at, the vendor of the application failed in which case I would say disclose away (bonus points if they provide something to mitigate it, if possible, though onus is not really on them either way). If they can tell the software vendor is making progress/genuinely attempting, then I’d say an extension would be fair.

In the Microsoft case that vaguely comes to mind, I believe the issue was one that required a bit of work because it was pretty low level for Windows. I want security patches on my system ASAP, but I also don’t want someone to release something that breaks my OS’s functionality or renders my files (or the ability to open files) fubared either. If memory serves, they were making progress on it, but it went past the time period Project Zero set and they were unwilling to give an extension and as far as was reported, didn’t seem to be exploited in the wild. But then you have something unpatched that is disclosed by Google. That doesn’t help users all that much.

That is all to say it isn’t being verifiably exploited in the wild. When that is the case, that changes things to the point users need to be made aware as soon as possible and if it means “turning off” a feature, if possible, as a stopgap, give that info to them.

kerng|7 years ago

If only Google would hold themselves accountable to the same standard. Android is a gigantic security mess, all caused and enabled by Google.