Google Plus was a bit of the search giant a few years ago. He did not get everything he wanted, but still had millions of users. Today we can announce that Google Plus closes. The reason is a serious data leak that affects its users. This vulnerability allowed the filtering of private data of users during the last 3 years.
Google Plus Closes After A Serious Vulnerability
We can get an idea of users data that have been filtered during this time. All types of personal information such as usernames, e-mail addresses, profile photos, date of birth … A serious problem that causes the closure of one of Google’s services.
Specifically, these data have been exposed to external developers. Exactly to 438 developers. From Google have indicated that they had no way of knowing if they could misuse this data or not. This technical error was discovered last March. The company estimates that the data of more than 500,000 users have been exposed.
It also mentioned that they themselves could not ensure if a user has been affected by this leak or not. Of course, they ensure that issues such as publications or messages have not been filtered.
From Google, they also claim that their Google Plus service is currently underutilized. They mention that 9 of every 10 users that connect to their service just spend a few seconds. That is, they enter to consult a publication, update their profile or similar actions.
The company will close Google Plus for users. However, it plans to maintain the Google Plus service for companies. They will generate a series of novelties to increase security. They want to create a more secure corporate social network. It is also announced some news regarding other services. For example, they will make changes to the API to limit developers’ access to data on Android devices and in Gmail.
Among other things, this means that developers will no longer receive call registration and SMS permissions on Android devices. Neither the interaction data will be available through the contacts API.
By August 2019, Google Plus Is Closed
The closing of Google Plus will not happen overnight. The company has announced that this event will be carried out during the next 10 months and will end in August 2019. After this time, we can say that Google Plus, will be a history.
In recent times we have seen similar cases of Facebook data leakage. Now we came to know that the personal data of the users have a great value. They are targeted by cybercriminals and sometimes even the companies themselves trade with them.