There seems to be no end to the “power of trust” in the digital world.  There are dozens of invocations of the word “trust” in company, product and service names, and “trust” is used to explain why products and services are valuable, superior or at least not harmful.

Now, a new service is being offered by WabiSabiLabi.com that will auction software vulnerabilities to the highest bidder.  (See article.) 

On the one hand, the service is in the best entrepreneurial spirit of getting value out of the intellectual property of security researchers.  (By the way, the researchers will have to “trust” WabiSabiLabi to protect their intellectual property rights during the process of the auction.)  On the other hand, the possibility that software security flaws will end up in the hands of criminals generates a lot of concern about the ultimate outcome of such auctions.  How do we control the participants in these auctions?

According to Herman Zampariolo, WabiSabiLabi’s chief executive, the company will thoroughly screen all potential buyers (and sellers), building a base of trusted bidders.  So we are not to worry – the auctioned vulnerabilities will only end up in the hands of trustworthy, ethical customers.  Ironically, the “power of trust” is being invoked to support a service auctioning vulnerabilities that could reduce trust in the digital enterprise.

WabiSabiLabi will depend on its ability to implement a trusted bidder scheme to legitimize its new vulnerability auction service.  Previous attempts at a similar service were abandoned.  It’s easy to invoke the word “trust” and seek a way to generate a commercially viable base of trusted bidders, but it’s hard to define and enforce what that trust is in the identification, authentication and qualification of bidders.

Nevertheless, like hope, trust springs eternal.

Maximizing the value of intellectual property through digital trust is discussed in the Digital Trust report series, Volume 3, “Intellectual Property Protection: Minding Your Mind Power” (expected to be available in late August here).