Google’s Girl

Parisa Tabriz thinks like a criminal. Leading a team of more than thirty, Tabriz is Google’s Security Princess- yes, that is her official title- where she is paid to hack her employer all day long. Sussing out weaknesses in Google Chrome that could be exploited, then ensure that they’re fixed before that can happen, this daily preemptive strike against online identity theft protects millions of people around the world. At 31, Tabriz is one of the rare women in hacking circles yet the furthest thing from the anti-social tech-wiz stereotype- think Lisbeth Salander. Tabriz came up with the moniker because Information Security Engineer was just too boring to deal with, so she happened upon the name just before a trip to Japan because she needed business cards to hand out during the elaborate introductions that are traditional in that country. Hired hacker also didn’t make the cut, and quite frankly any title with the word princess in it sounds far more more chic…even in tech.

In the world of hacking, Tabriz is basically the equivalent of Glinda the Good Witch, meaning there is zero evil attached to her enormous  power and skills. On the frontline of security, she is one of more than 250 Google security engineers, and when she started at Google in 2007 she was just the tenth to join a small team of hired hackers in charge of software security for the company. More importantly Tabriz is on the side of the white hats, the sort of people like that good samaritan who returns your Celine handbag you left in the cab, rather the run off with it and sell it on eBay. Now that would be a security breach of epic proportions.