A vulnerability in the Google+ social network caused exposure of private data of more than 500,000 users. Due to scrutiny from lawmakers, the tech giant chose not to reveal the mishap when it fixed the issue quietly in March – reveals a report by Wall Street Journal. However, on Google’s part, the leading tech company claims to repair the software issue as soon as the vulnerability was discovered.
According to Wall Street Journal, an API bug allowed outside developers access to the private data of GooglePlus users between the years 2015 and 2018. The sensitive data of Google+ users included names, genders, email addresses, birth information, postal addresses, relationship status, occupation, and even profile photos. However, Google said that it found no evidence of misuse by developers. In fact, the tech giant claims that the developers were unaware of the bug, hence the private information was safe. However, in the world of internet, privacy hacking and data theft – one cannot be too sure.
As an after effect of this problem, Google has plans to shut down the consumer version of Google+. However, the consumers will be given a 10-month time-frame to move out of the service. The company hopes to complete the process by August of the coming year.
Moreover, Google has made slight changes to its privacy policy and giving users more authority over the data they share with apps and limit the ability of apps to access call and message logs on Android.
Image: Marketingland
According to Wall Street Journal, an API bug allowed outside developers access to the private data of GooglePlus users between the years 2015 and 2018. The sensitive data of Google+ users included names, genders, email addresses, birth information, postal addresses, relationship status, occupation, and even profile photos. However, Google said that it found no evidence of misuse by developers. In fact, the tech giant claims that the developers were unaware of the bug, hence the private information was safe. However, in the world of internet, privacy hacking and data theft – one cannot be too sure.
As an after effect of this problem, Google has plans to shut down the consumer version of Google+. However, the consumers will be given a 10-month time-frame to move out of the service. The company hopes to complete the process by August of the coming year.
Moreover, Google has made slight changes to its privacy policy and giving users more authority over the data they share with apps and limit the ability of apps to access call and message logs on Android.
Image: Marketingland
