Absolutely. These articles erode trust in the competitors of Google. The fact that Apple was aware of the vulnerabilities and in the process of fixing them is lost on the public. They were apparently working on fixing these bugs for 10 days prior to Project zero.

Maybe this sensationalism furthers the public interest by turning software security into a weird zero-sum game where every company is trying to break their competitors products. But I can also see how cases like this creat a negativity that prevents companies from collaborating to fundamentally improve security.

> But I can also see how cases like this creat a negativity that prevents companies from collaborating to fundamentally improve security.

The security community works like this (public responsible disclosure), _because_ companies overwhelmingly proved that they couldn't be trusted to collaborate with security researchers.

> They were apparently working on fixing these bugs for 10 days prior to Project zero.

That’s not what the Apple press release says. It says that it took them 10 days from when they learned about the bugs until they had “resolve[d] the issue” (fix implemented? released?).

Presumably Google contacted them sometime in between when Apple first learned about the bugs and when they finished fixing them.

> Maybe this sensationalism furthers the public interest by turning software security into a weird zero-sum game where every company is trying to break their competitors products.

This isn't a Maybe. Narrowing in on the statement of fact "where every company is trying to break their competitors products," query Ben Hawkes of Project Zero for an exact quote, but this about 100% lines up with it.

P zero attacks Google's projects just as much as anyone elses, and there even more aggressive in things like sticking to their disclosure timeline. They definitely don't pull punches or play favorites.

What mass panic? Did I miss the part where entire towns were burning their iPhones? Most people don’t know or care about security, and even if this was “sensationalized” do you honestly believe everyone didn’t just forget about it a week later? Is there anyone who actually believes this will have any effect on iPhone sales?

It seems you did miss all the press coverage of this event.

Here's one: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbmgqp/this-is-worst-year...

No, I saw that -- maybe you missed every other flavor-of-the-week coverage for the past 10 years? Panic refers to user's reactions -- not what the news cycle generates for a given week. When information about Uber came out, at least #dumpuber trended or whatever, actual users wanting to change their behavior in response to events relating to a company. I didn't see that at all with this. This article is entirely about how members of the industry feel about Apple I guess? At least when the assertions aren't completely passive like "Apple’s perception as the secure consumer device is starting to crack." -- Apple's perception has cracked WITH WHOM??

The general population is completely burnt out about security stuff -- they hear about their bank getting hacked and releasing all their records like twice a year now. No one "panics" over that anymore either. This is no different, if they'll even be able to recall them being separate events a year from now.