Google's 'Security Princess:' Meet Parisa Tabriz, the 31-year-old Iranian-American hacker who protects the tech giant from cyber criminals 


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Parisa Tabriz's job at Google is straight-forward: sniff out weaknesses on the company's web browser to ward off attacks from hackers.

At 31, she is the top security expert in charge of a team of 30 white-hat hackers — the good guys — who protect Google Chrome and its billions of users from criminal hackers.

Or, put simply: she's the company's 'Security Princess.'

'I knew I'd have to hand out my card and I thought Information Security Engineer sounded so boring,' Tabriz told The Telegraph about the Tokyo conference where she came up with her title. 

'Guys in the industry all take it so seriously, so security princess felt suitably whimsical.'

Tabriz is a trailblazer in the tech industry, in which women are vastly underrepresented. At Google, just 30 percent of staffers are female, according to data revealed by the company.

Parisa Tabriz, 31, is the head security engineer tasked with keeping Google Chrome and its billions of users safe from malicious attacks

Parisa Tabriz, 31, is the head security engineer tasked with keeping Google Chrome and its billions of users safe from malicious attacks

Tabriz leads a team of 30 engineers tasked with securing the most widely used web browser in the world, Google Chrome

Tabriz leads a team of 30 engineers tasked with securing the most widely used web browser in the world, Google Chrome

Tabriz gave herself the title of 'Security Princess' while on a conference in Tokyo

'Fifty years ago, there were similar percentages of women in medicine and law,' Tabriz told The Telegraph. 'Now thankfully that's shifted.

'Technology is one of the fastest-growing fields, but in that respect it has a lot of catching up to do.'

But Tabriz's journey hasn't been without struggles, especially when it comes to fighting ignorance. 

When she was first offered a job at Google straight out of college in 2007, a male colleague told her: 'You know you only got it cos you're a girl.'

'He said it to my face — but I'm sure a lot of others were thinking it,' she told The Telegraph.

'The jerks are the ones that tend to be the most insecure, but that didn't stop me worrying he might be right.'

Tabriz was raised in Chicago with two younger brothers. She is the daughter of an Iranian doctor and a Polish-American nurse, both computer illiterate.

She likes to remember how she'd 'boss around' her brothers from an early age.

'They'd say I was a bully, but I played them at their own game, in sports on the field, and at video games,' Tabriz told The Telegraph. 'I was older and used to beat them up all the time.'

She didn't even touch a computer until her first year at the University of Illinois, where she studied computer engineering. 

Fast forward a few years, and Tabriz in 2012 was topping Forbes' list of 30 people under 30 years old in tech to watch — a list that also included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Her ability to think like an ill-intentioned hacker brought her quick fame at Google. Now, she teaches other techies at the company how to think like criminals — so they can stop the next attack.

When she's not at work, Tabriz enjoys making gelato, blowing glass and amateur photography

Not just a big brain: Tabriz also enjoys rock climbing near Google's campus in Mountain View, California

'There's a fine line between the two,' she told The Telegraph. 'You want these people on your side, not against you.'

Google offers cash rewards of up to $30,000 for tips about bugs on Chrome. So far, the company has paid up $1.25 million to fix more than 700 issues with the web. 

'Today, hacking can be ugly,' Tabriz told The Telegraph. 'The guy who published the private photos of those celebrities online made headlines everywhere.

'What he did was not only a violation of these women but it was criminal, and as a hacker I was very saddened by it.

'I feel like we, the hackers, need better PR to show we're not all like that.'

Tabriz lives near Google's campus in Mountain View, California. When she's not at work, she enjoys amateur photography, rock climbing, making gelato and blowing glass.

Tabriz manages a team of 30 security experts throughouth Europe and Google's campus in Mountain View, California (pictured)

Tabriz manages a team of 30 security experts throughouth Europe and Google's campus in Mountain View, California (pictured)



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