Google Chromebook's auto-update scheme will be hard sell

Computerworld - Consumers may love that Google's Chromebooks will automatically deliver security updates, but company administrators will resist it tooth and nail, experts said today.

The notebook PCs, which will initially come from Samsung and Acer, and go on sale next month, will feature Google's Chrome OS and run only online applications.

Google is pitching the new machines at consumers, businesses and schools, with the latter two groups able to buy them on a subscription basis, starting at $28 per business user and $20 per school and public sector user.

"It's software and hardware as a service," Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Chrome, said Wednesday as the company announced the Chromebooks.

But even though many analysts see Google's move as one aimed straight at the enterprise, one Chromebook feature will give businesses pause.

Like Google's Chrome browser, Chrome OS will deliver updates -- Google refuses to call them patches -- in the background, without asking or notifying users. And while Google will provide a Web-based management console to IT administrators, that console does not let them manage Chrome OS updates, or modify how they're delivered.

That's going to be a hard sell, said several security analysts and researchers.

"This does concern me," said Jason Miller, the data and security team manager for Shavlik Technologies. "Good patch management policy is to test before they're deployed. But here you don't get a say. And that leaves you at the mercy of Google."

"This is never going to fly for IT," said Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security

That's because administrators are responsible for not only the security of their networks, but also for its smooth operation. If a patch in a Chrome OS update breaks compatibility with an existing Web application, or even worse, cripples the machine, it's their neck on the line, not Google's.

"Administrators are going to want control over updates," said Miller. "If these machines go down, it's their job."

"It means you no longer own your hardware," said Costin Raiu, a senior malware researcher with antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab. "Someone else does."

On other platforms -- notably Windows, which powers an overwhelming majority of enterprise computers -- administrators have that control. Through software such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), IT staffers can decide which machines are updated, and delay updates until they've had a chance to test the patches' impact on a limited number of PCs.

Chrome OS's automatic updating allows none of that. In fact, Google won't warn administrators that an update is coming, a fact it makes clear in an online FAQ.

"Google does not pre-announce Chrome OS updates before they are rolled out," the FAQ states.