Zalewski has an established history of exposing security holes in various software products, particularly the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers…

I can’t help but wonder if they could be wanting him specifically to help vet a Google Browser. As you may recall, there’s been supposition for years now that Google could be looking to build their own browser. Although Google executives have previously demurred, saying they would only build a browser only “…if we thought there was a real user benefit,” whois records show that they must’ve considered that very possibility since they registered a domain name for “gbrowser.com“.

Of course, Zalewski’s talents could be intended to be used on any of a number of other applications such as the Google Toolbar.

We can’t completely escape the fact that having their own browser could be very advantageous and complimentary to their various other products and initiatives, particularly as they are now competing overtly with the various products from Microsoft.