ioXt Alliance Member Snapshot: Google’s Brooke Davis

The ioXt Alliance Member Snapshot:
Google Brooke Davis

We’re excited to welcome new ioXt Alliance Contributor member Brooke Davis of Google. Members help define and lead Alliance security standards by working with all Alliance members and by participating in our working groups. 

Brooke made time to answer some questions for us about what she does for Google, and why she values being part of the ioXt Alliance. The following is what she shared.

Q:  What do you do at Google? 

I’m on the Strategic Partnerships team for Google Play.  As the world’s largest app store, we empower developers to build successful businesses on Play / Android globally and inspire the ecosystem to innovate on / invest in Android and Play.  My specific focus is on Android Security & Privacy and ensuring that we offer a safe and secure platform for users and developers alike. 

Q:  Why are you involved in the Alliance?

Mobile security is filled with constant change and no one has all the answers.  In this rapidly evolving space, collaboration is key to help protect the ecosystem.  ioXt’s diverse member base makes it ideal for creating reputable standards and certifications through the wisdom of industry stakeholders. As Vice-Chair for the Mobile App Profile, I worked across a group of 20+ individuals including a number of certified labs and a mobile pen testing firm to help create these principles.

Q:  What is the mobile app profile? 

The Mobile App Profile is a new standard to help assess security, upgradeability & transparency of mobile applications.  The profile includes ~30 requirements across 8 categories to provide developers with a set of attainable guidelines that can be tested for.  The profile provides a lot of flexibility as it can be leveraged for both iOS and Android and provides multiple certification options for developers.  I’m excited about the launch of the profile and its ability to raise the quality of mobile app security today.

Q:  How will it benefit consumers and the industry at large?

Today’s market has disparate security standards without a common framework, leading to developer confusion.  Developers will benefit from having an established standard for security to help them build more secure apps.  Over time, we expect this to become a key differentiator for developers to market their security capabilities.   Users will have a better means to evaluate secure options, which is more important now than ever given how much sensitive data our mobile devices host and how much we rely on them.  

Favorite apps:

Pocket - productivity savior for saving news articles for offline reading 

Among Us - simple gameplay but nothing is more rewarding than beating my 13-year-old nephew

Caviar - after 6 months of “getting into” cooking, I’ve given up