Google Shuts Down Google+ After Users

Google Shuts Down Google+ After Users' Data Exposed

Google has made the decision to shut down much of its social network following the disclosure of vulnerable data.

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Oct 09, 2018

Google has shut down much of its social network, Google+, after up to 500,000 users' data was left exposed. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the publication that broke the story, there was a bug in the software that made information believed to be private accessible to third parties. 

 While WSJ says Google knew of the bug since March and did not disclose it. The tech company says it has no evidence any developer was aware of the bug.

In a statement, Google said the bug was not serious enough to inform the public:

"Our Privacy and 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 here." 

"Google’s failure, if true, to not disclose to users the discovery of a bug that gave outside developers access to private data, is a reoccurring theme," Pravin Kothari, CEO of CipherCloud said. "We saw recently that Uber was fined for failing to disclose the fact that they had a breach, and instead of disclosing, tried to sweep it under the rug. It’s not surprising that companies that rely on user data are incentivized to avoid disclosing to the public that their data may have been compromised, which would impact consumer trust. These are the reasons that the government should and will continue to use in their inexorable march to a unified national data privacy omnibus regulation."

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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