Google shutting down Google+ after massive data breach

A recent software bug caused Google to expose personal data of thousands of Google+ users, leading the tech giant to shut down the site for consumers.

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal disclosed that due to a software glitch, Google exposed personal information of hundreds of thousands of its social networking site, Google+ profiles that weren’t marked as public.

Google acknowledged the bug informed that the data accessed included users’ name, email, gender, age and occupation. Though the bug was fixed back in March, Google didn’t inform users at that point. In the wake of the report, Google announced yesterday that it will shut down the site for consumers over the next 10 months, by the end of August 2019.

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The initial report stated that the undisclosed bug caused third-party developers to gain access to the data between 2015 and March 2018. The bug was, however, fixed with Google informing that nothing wrong was done with the data, reported Business Insider.

However, Google clarified itself as to why it didn’t disclose the glitch saying, “Our Privacy & Data Protection Office reviewed this issue, looking at the type of data involved, whether we could accurately identify the users to inform, whether there was any evidence of misuse, and whether there were any actions a developer or user could take in response. None of these thresholds were met in this instance."

In its blog post, Google informed that Google+ at present has ‘low usage and engagement’, and 90% of the user sessions last less than five second. Nevertheless, Google is planning to shut down the consumer version of the site and keep the service open for enterprise customers who use the site to converse with co-workers. For this usage, Google informed that new features will be release and the tech giant is focusing on a ‘secure corporate social network’.

Other than these major changes, Google also announced new privacy adjustments for other Google services including Gmail, where it will update its User Data Policy for the consumer version. Moreover, Google said that it has taken an effort called ‘Project Strobe’ that will review ‘third-party developer access to Google account and Android device data’, as per The Verge.