Google acquires Zynamics
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Google acquires Zynamics
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#2Most of you probably haven't the faintest clue who Zynamics is. They're based in Germany and used to be called Sabre Security. This is Halvar Flake's team; they sell BinDiff (the most popular binary diffing tool in reverse engineering, used by teams around the world to back security patches out to learn about flaws), along with BinNavi, a popular debugger-based reverse-engineering tool.
For the past few years, they've been working on an engine called VxClass that uses control flaw graph analysis to automatically classify malware. One presumes this is what motivates the acquisition. Google already scans content on the Internet for malware.
Or it could be mostly a talent thing. Google's been on a hiring tear. Extremely strong software security talent isn't easy to come by. Lord knows Halvar's got it. Zynamics is hugely well-known and respected in the software security world.
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#3Most of you probably haven't the faintest clue who Zynamics is. They're based in Germany and used to be called Sabre Security. This is Halvar Flake's team; they sell BinDiff (the most popular binary diffing tool in reverse engineering, used by teams around the world to back security patches out to learn about flaws), along with BinNavi, a popular debugger-based reverse-engineering tool. For the past few years, they'v…
Like a lot of folks, I'm curious how this will effect sales of BinDiff and BinNavi (I don't see Google in the business of selling security software); but this should be really good news for Halvar and Co.
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#4Most of you probably haven't the faintest clue who Zynamics is. They're based in Germany and used to be called Sabre Security. This is Halvar Flake's team; they sell BinDiff (the most popular binary diffing tool in reverse engineering, used by teams around the world to back security patches out to learn about flaws), along with BinNavi, a popular debugger-based reverse-engineering tool. For the past few years, they'v…
Like a lot of folks, I'm curious how this will effect sales of BinDiff and BinNavi (I don't see Google in the business of selling security software); but this should be really good news for Halvar and Co.
Wouldn't it be neat if they just open-sourced them? They almost might as well; both have open source substitutes already, neither could possibly make Google any money.
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like a lot of folks, I'm curious how this will effect sales of BinDiff and BinNavi (I don't see Google in the business of selling security software); but this should be really good news for Halvar and Co.
Wouldn't it be neat if they just open-sourced them? They almost might as well; both have open source substitutes already, neither could possibly make Google any money.
That's what I'm hoping for.
BinNavi always seemed like it was priced the way that IDA should have been (considering that for what IDA does it's way under-priced).
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#6Congrats to Halvar and the team. They've done great products for years and as 'tptacek says, they've got great security talent.
And kudos to Google -- a great investment in technology and people. Acquisitions aren't easy, so let's hope they can make it work!
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like a lot of folks, I'm curious how this will effect sales of BinDiff and BinNavi (I don't see Google in the business of selling security software); but this should be really good news for Halvar and Co.
Wouldn't it be neat if they just open-sourced them? They almost might as well; both have open source substitutes already, neither could possibly make Google any money.
I am very sure this does not happen because the products (especially BinNavi) are entangled in commercial licenses for 3rd party components.
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#8Congrats to my former company! I was lead devevloper of three of our products (BinNavi, BinCrowd, PDF Dissector) until 5 months ago when I was tired of the stuff we worked on and bailed out.
Curiously, we always saw HBGary as one of our main competitors. However, we were focused on tech, not shady deals. :)
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#9Most of you probably haven't the faintest clue who Zynamics is. They're based in Germany and used to be called Sabre Security. This is Halvar Flake's team; they sell BinDiff (the most popular binary diffing tool in reverse engineering, used by teams around the world to back security patches out to learn about flaws), along with BinNavi, a popular debugger-based reverse-engineering tool. For the past few years, they'v…
Thanks tptacek for sharing some insights!
Re: Google acquires Zynamics
#10I would love to know what the typical acquisition process for Google is like. Where does it start (product team, management, engineering, etc)? How long does it take? How intense are the negotiations? Are deals typically cash or stock?