Google + security bug disclosed, service to be shut down

Google has announced that its consumer service Google + is to be shuttered after a security bug in it revealed the data of around 500 000 users to external developers between 2015 and 2018.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Google became aware of the hole in its security back in March of this year and patched it, but then failed to inform the users who were affected. The report says that the decision to withhold this information for fear of regulatory scrutiny.

The discovery of the bug occurred round about the same time the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook surfaced. According the WSJ, Google CEO Sundar Pichai both knew of and agreed with the decision not to plan to not disclose the data exposure. A document in the WSJ’s possession warned that if it was disclosed, it could result in “us coming into the spotlight alongside or even instead of Facebook despite having stayed under the radar throughout the Cambridge Analytica scandal.”

“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 in this instance,” said Google.

As part of a review process surrounding this disclosure, Google has announced that Google + is going to be closed down.

“This review crystallized what we’ve known for a while: that while our engineering teams have put a lot of effort and dedication into building Google+ over the years, it has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps. The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds.” Google said.

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