Won't Fix Episode 8: With Dave Kleidermacher of Google

Dave Kleidermacher is a vice president of engineering at Google, leading engineering for Android security and privacy. His scope encompasses Android and the Made-by-Google world — Pixel, Nest, Fitbit, and the Play Store.We talked about Android's answer to scams: smarter defenses that use AI as a shield (on-device detection that catches scams as they unfold), and a deeper structural pivot to "Actor Trust" — establishing provable, cryptographic confidence in who or what a source is rather than forever trying to detect bad things.Dave has been steeped in these topics for a long time so we get into a bunch of great territory, and I think you’ll really enjoy the conversation.Key Highlights:Consumer platforms must pivot from traditional vulnerability exploitation defenses to fighting scams and fraud, which make up 99% of actual practical threats facing users today.The future of mobile authentication lies in reversing security asymmetry through "actor trust" cryptographically verifying the source device rather than relying on human intuition.Big Tech players like Apple and Google need to publish a transparent, accountability driven joint priority roadmap to accelerate cross-platform security for critical defenses like caller verification.Mobile network operators remain a critical structural weak point in consumer safety due to privacy-invasive habits like silent third party app installations and outdated location-tracking protocols.Chapter Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Background3:01 The Shift from Vulnerability Threats to Scam Prevention ‎6:01 Real-time Voice Spoofing Capabilities and Demonstrations ‎8:19 Platform Defense Strategies and the Whack-a-Mole Problem ‎11:00 Actor Trust and Cryptographic Verification Approach ‎15:37 Google's Security Key Success and Developer Ecosystem Verification ‎17:35 RCS Standards and Industry Collaboration Challenges ‎27:19 Business Caller Verification and Stir Shaken Limitations ‎31:59 Privacy-Security Balance and Binary Transparency ‎41:30 Consumer Role and Stakeholder Responsibilities ‎43:27 Future AI Landscape and Industry Recommendations ‎49:47 Advertising Technology and Platform Accountability ‎Resources & Links:Rob Leathern (https://www.linkedin.com/in/leathern/)Dave Kleidermacher (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekleidermacher/)