Technology 3 min read

Google to Expedite Google+ Shut Down After Another Data Breach

Google's just announced the expedited shut down of Google+ after news broke of another data breach

Google's just announced the expedited shut down of Google+ after news broke of another data breach

The Google+ shut down will come sooner than expected after Google revealed another data breach.

Following the Google+ shut down announcement last October, Google announced on Monday that the shut down will happen sooner than expected. This occurred after the company revealed that the accounts of over 52 million users were exposed by another recently discovered bug.

Google reported that the bug came from a standard and ongoing testing procedure released in a November software update. The bug originally affected the Google+ API and was immediately fixed a week after its release.

The latest bug gave application developers access to the same compromised information from October. This data includes usernames, email addresses, age, and occupations to name a few. The personal data made accessible by the bug, even if they were set to private, was available for around six days, Google said.

Read More: Google Announces Google+ Shut Down After User Data Exposure

“With the discovery of this new bug, we have decided to expedite the shut-down of all Google+ APIs; this will occur within the next 90 days,” David Thacker, Vice President of Google’s Product Management, wrote in a blog post.

“In addition, we have also decided to accelerate the sunsetting of consumer Google+ from August 2019 to April 2019. While we recognize there are implications for developers, we want to ensure the protection of our users.”

The Google+ Bug

Here are some of the details about the recently discovered bug:

  • The bug impacted around 52.5 million users in connection with the Google+ API.
  • With respect to this API, apps that requested permission to view profile information that a user had added to their Google+ profile were granted permission to view profile information about that user even when set to not-public.
  • The bug did not give developers access to information such as financial data, national identification numbers, passwords, or similar data.
  • In addition, apps with access to a user’s Google+ profile data also had access to the profile data that had been shared with the consenting user by another Google+ user, but that was not shared publicly.
  • No third party compromised Google’s systems. There is also no evidence that the developers who had this access misused it in any way.

Google is now notifying customers affected by the massive data breach while the investigation is still ongoing. According to Thacker, they will sunset all Google+ APIs in the next 90 days. Meanwhile, sunsetting of the Google+ for consumers was moved earlier from August 2019 to April 2019.

What are your thoughts about the Google+ shut down?

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Chelle Fuertes

Chelle is the Product Management Lead at INK. She's an experienced SEO professional as well as UX researcher and designer. She enjoys traveling and spending time anywhere near the sea with her family and friends.

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