Google Buys Its Way To A More Secure Future

Do you recall the time last month when Google took a hitting in the press and the tech blog world? It was early June and a self-professed watchdog of individuals’ privacy rights took Big G to task for allegedly failing to measure up to modern security standards. Privacy International is what the group calls itself.

Well, if you recall the results of the study the group conducted, you’ll know that Google didn’t rank to high in their eyes. They ranked very low, to be blunt. Too low to give the average user of Google’s products and services assurance that their anonymity would indeed be kept under the strongest of locks and the most complex of keys. Which I think is what most of us have more or less come to expect from the company. Not sure why that is. We just all kind of trust Big G to keep us safe.

Google of course responded in a way that any large company with the desire to keep the waters surrounding its complex placid as possible would: they denied, denounced, denied, and, oh yes, denied some more. Understandably so. I mean, who the heck is Privacy International to tell Google it’s scored so terribly low that it’s practically scraping the bottom of the barrel? Surely they couldn’t so bad at keeping our information available to our own selves and only to our own selves. Right?

Dunno. Couldn’t tell you. I’m not security expert. What I can tell you, however, is that Google’s paid attention to the negative press and has now taken it upon itself to see what it can do to help it put a few more points under its name on the ol’ scoreboard. The plan? Well, somewhat predictably, it’s actually decided to buy its way back into the black. The acquisition: Postini.

What’s Postini? According a press release posted on Businesswire, it is “a global leader in on-demand communications security and compliance solutions serving more than 35,000 business and 10 million users worldwide.” The price Google’s chosen to pay for the encryption specialist: $625 million.

Clearly, Google’s serious about rectifying the situation.

On the one hand, you kind of wish Google would’ve taken it upon itself to plug any gaping holes with some smart in-house security specialists. On the other, Google’s undeniably a monstrous operation. What better way to fix its myriad of security problems (it’s got ‘em; just as every tech company under the sun has ‘em) than to administer a great big patch like Postini throughout the Googleplex?

Personally, I think the logic to Google’s newest purchase is clear as day. Google’s got the money to seek an outside solution, and if said solution works, it works. And, well, I see no reason to think a nice, close, ultra-snug match won’t be made between the two.

What do you make of the acquisition?