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Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#31

Post by cookiecaper »

pjc50 wrote: post #11
sergiosgc wrote: post #5

This is another signal of an interesting development on the hardware front. What used to be decoupled, with some companies offering hardware, and different companies buying hardware, is now coupled and hidden within these mega-companies (Google, Amazon, FB). Google is big enough to develop a trusted hardware solution for internal use only, it has no financial need to sell it. Worse, due to competitiveness in the clou…

> immense positive benefit of moving all capex to opex Hmm. Is that really a benefit or Enron-ing yourself? I can see how it allows efficient ramp-up of small companies which can't afford a whole sysadmin for ops, but the big downside is that the return on capital goes to the megacompanies, to whom you are paying rent. I can sort of see why it's happened, because it's very hard to capture the added value of software…

>Is that really a benefit or Enron-ing yourself?

I read it as sarcasm. ;)

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#32

Post by cookiecaper »

pm90 wrote: post #16
pjc50 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> immense positive benefit of moving all capex to opex Hmm. Is that really a benefit or Enron-ing yourself? I can see how it allows efficient ramp-up of small companies which can't afford a whole sysadmin for ops, but the big downside is that the return on capital goes to the megacompanies, to whom you are paying rent. I can sort of see why it's happened, because it's very hard to capture the added value of software…

It reduces the resources needed to bootstrap your own company. Of course once it reaches a certain size, it makes it more cost effective to host your resources internally. There are also many organizations who do not want to deal with a whole division dedicated to maintaining a reliable, distributed, secure computer network for their employees and would be more willing to pay for the cloud rather than the extra peopl…

This is not really true. Not "once you reach a certain size", but once you move off the lowest-tier starter hardware, cloud quickly becomes much more expensive than owning hardware, and security solutions continue to depend on the individual administrators (most backups do too).

Cloud's biggest benefit is really convenience, because you don't need to go to the datacenter and put in another hard drive yourself when you need more space. That's absolutely not worth the price premium most of the time. Large companies could hire hardware jockeys in-house for a fraction of the cost and smaller companies can't afford such conveniences.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#34

Post by a3n »

vgt wrote: post #10
sergiosgc wrote: post #5

This is another signal of an interesting development on the hardware front. What used to be decoupled, with some companies offering hardware, and different companies buying hardware, is now coupled and hidden within these mega-companies (Google, Amazon, FB). Google is big enough to develop a trusted hardware solution for internal use only, it has no financial need to sell it. Worse, due to competitiveness in the clou…

It's a sign of changing times indeed, but for the consumer's benefit. It is absolutely in Google's best interests to externalize security for its customers as a differentiator of Google Cloud. The parent article itself links to the white paper that outlines how this is done for Google Cloud. I understand how one may consider this a "closed ecosystem" from one perspective. However, from a customer point of view any st…

> any startup or mom-and-pop can leverage these very complex and expensive world-class security developments,

Until a random cosmic ray triggers Google to revoke access for mom and pop.

There's tradeoffs, and most people don't discover them until the random cosmic ray hits the fan. And, to be fair, most Google customers probably never encounter a RCR event.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#35

Post by gm-conspiracy »

kabdib wrote: post #22
pm90 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I understand how one may consider this a "closed ecosystem" from one perspective. However, from a customer point of view any startup or mom-and-pop can leverage these very complex and expensive world-class security developments, whereas in the past this access has been reserved to the very select few that could afford it. When the barrier to entry is lowered and access is commoditized, customer wins. I don't unders…

Pressure from governments to not supply consumers with hardware that is resistant to surveillance is one reason. AFAIK, the consumer systems that are most resistant to physical attack (and that lack spooky things like Intel's system management CPU) are game consoles. The hardening is a requirement for anti-piracy and anti-cheating, and in newer generations of consoles it's been quite successful. Recent iPhones are a…

I would agree with you if they cannot be updated via an internet connection.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#36

Post by amelius »

sergiosgc wrote: post #5

This is another signal of an interesting development on the hardware front. What used to be decoupled, with some companies offering hardware, and different companies buying hardware, is now coupled and hidden within these mega-companies (Google, Amazon, FB). Google is big enough to develop a trusted hardware solution for internal use only, it has no financial need to sell it. Worse, due to competitiveness in the clou…

I think we should limit companies to a maximum of N employees.

This will ensure more modularity in the market. And more competition as well, because barriers are lower.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#38

Post by dx034 »

woliveirajr wrote: post #3

> Disks get the following treatment: > “We enable hardware encryption support in our hard drives and SSDs and meticulously track each drive through its lifecycle. Before a decommissioned encrypted storage device can physically leave our custody, it is cleaned using a multi-step process that includes two independent verifications. Devices that do not pass this wiping procedure are physically destroyed (e.g. shredded)…

Thought they'd shred all disks? This reads as most drives (all passing the test) are sold to others.

Would be interesting to know where you can buy old Google disks? Should be rather high volume.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#39

Post by gnu8 »

amelius wrote: post #36
sergiosgc wrote: post #5

This is another signal of an interesting development on the hardware front. What used to be decoupled, with some companies offering hardware, and different companies buying hardware, is now coupled and hidden within these mega-companies (Google, Amazon, FB). Google is big enough to develop a trusted hardware solution for internal use only, it has no financial need to sell it. Worse, due to competitiveness in the clou…

I think we should limit companies to a maximum of N employees. This will ensure more modularity in the market. And more competition as well, because barriers are lower.

I like this idea. Maybe we should limit governments to a population of N citizens for the same reasons.

Re: Google reveals its servers all contain custom security silicon

#40

Post by dx034 »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #33

This is what security looks like when your threat model is well funded government agencies.

Exactly, and I think it's worth noting that they likely only apply this level of security because of state actors. Which then shows that they are trying to prevent eavesdropping by NSA & Co., they probably just realized too late how far advanced they were.
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