Google Launches “Responsible” New Security Software

by Stephen Logan on 26th March 2010

One industry expert claims that Google is trying to be "responsible" by launching its new Skipfish open-sourced security software.

Ram Herkanaidu, a security researcher at Kaspersky Labs, explained that because the brand is such a leading search engine on the internet, it is beneficial for it to encourage others to build securely.

It also demonstrates Google’s commitment to offering security applications alongside its other SEO services, Mr Herkanaidu said.

He added: "Skipfish is not yet a comprehensive security scanner tool, open sourcing it will allow other developers to take the Skipfish framework and build upon it."

Google announced the launch of Skipfish earlier this month and the open-sourced, fully automated tool includes automatic learning capabilities and on-the-fly wordlist creation.

It can also adapt to a variety of website architectures.

This is not the only new development to be launched by Google of late, as it recently introduced a new search function that allows users to share their favourite websites with their friends.