Google is shutting down Google+ for consumers following security lapse
Google is shutting down Google+ for consumers following a disclosure Monday that the private data of hundreds of thousands of users on its disappointing social network were potentially exposed because of a bug the Alphabet-owned company kept quiet. #google+ shutdown
GOOGLE ANNOUNCED ON Monday that it is shuttering its Google+ social network, following revelations in a Wall Street Journal report that the company did not disclose a recently discovered bug that had exposed data from up to 500,000 Google+ users users since 2015. In the same breath, the company introduced new tools to give users more control over the data they share with apps and services that connect to Google products.
The dissonance epitomizes the broader tension data behemoths like Google and Facebook have lately grappled with over how to reconcile their competing priorities of safeguarding user trust and turning a healthy profit.
The dissonance epitomizes the broader tension data behemoths like Google and Facebook have lately grappled with over how to reconcile their competing priorities of safeguarding user trust and turning a healthy profit.
“Hiding data exposures is harmful to users—trying to keep the cat in the bag is not a sustainable strategy,” says Lukasz Olejnik, a security and privacy researcher and member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group. In this case, Google purposefully kept it quiet for months, with no apparent plans to let anyone ever know.
Google discovered a problem with the Google+ People API that could allow third-party developers to scrape optional profile information made available to your friends like name, email, occupation, and gender. Google says it does not see evidence that developers made use of the bug before it was patched back in March, but it can’t be 100 percent certain.
Because Google doesn’t keep API log data on G+, it can’t confirm how many users were vulnerable, but it thinks the number is north of 500,000. It’s possible you have a Google+ page with personal data on it and simply forgot about it. Google pushed its social platform very hard for several years, going so far as to integrate its comments with YouTube and make web logins part of G+. And for what? Google’s examination of G+ in the wake of the security mess forced it to confront some hard truths. For example, 90 percent of G+ sessions latest less than five seconds.
