Skip to main content

Google’s ‘Project Zero’ combats hackers, Web vulnerabilities, and more

Google is enlisting the help of ace security experts to boost Web security and make life on the Internet safer for everyone.

The tech giant calls this initiative “Project Zero.” Think of this as a tech-ified, geeky version of the A-Team. Google made the announcement via this official blog post.

Recommended Videos

Google’s team will work to fight threats both in its own products, and those made by other companies as well. Google will work with external software makers to ensure that their offerings don’t have any holes that pose potential threats to anyone.

“You should be able to use the Web without fear that a criminal or state-sponsored actor is exploiting software bugs to infect your computer, steal secrets or monitor your communications,” Chris Evans, a member of Google’s security research team says. “Yet in sophisticated attacks, we see the use of ’zero-day’ vulnerabilities to target, for example, human rights activists or to conduct industrial espionage.”

Evans says that every bug they find will be documented in an “external database.” Only software vendors will initially be notified of these bugs, and no one else. A bug report will typically become public right when a patch is also available. To beef up this task force, Google is hiring the best and brightest security researchers they can find.

Considering that data breaches in New York State cost people over $1 billion just last year alone, we hope that Project Zero gets cracking sooner than later.

Konrad Krawczyk
Former Computing Editor
Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…
It’s time to add one more service to the Google graveyard
A woman using a HP Chromebook laptop while sitting at a bright green table with a cup of coffee, all in front of a colorful background.

Google is killing yet another service: the Google URL Shortener. As Dare Obasanjo comments on X, any links using the goo.gl shorter will break after August 25, 2025.

When Google offers a service, millions of people use it and it becomes embedded in every corner of the internet -- and then when Google kills a service, countless things break, and it causes a whole lot of inconvenience for a whole lot of people.

Read more
Google is cracking down on internet security in this big way
Connection is not private warning from Google.

Google is making some serious changes to digital certificate security on the web, the company announced on its Security blog. The big news is that Google will no longer trust certificates from two large security firms -- Entrust or AffirmTrust -- due to repeated security lapses.

According to Google, the companies, which are Certificate Authorities (CA), have demonstrated patterns of unmet improvement commitments, compliance failures, and no measurable progress in how fast the company responds to publicly disclosed incident reports.

Read more
Google’s holographic ‘magic window’ video calls are becoming a reality
google project starline io 2021 news

Project Starline impressed the world back in 2021 with "magic window"-like video calls. It seemed a bit like a glorified tech demo at the time, but now, Google is back with an exciting update. The search giant has announced a hardware partnership with HP, aiming to sell and integrate the technology into existing video-conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom beginning in 2025.

First showcased at Google I/O 2021, the core of Project Starline is a blend of cutting-edge technologies, including advanced 3D imaging, AI, and display capabilities. The platform aims to bridge the gap between physical and virtual interactions, creating a sense of presence and realism akin to face-to-face meetings.

Read more