After 5 lakh user’s data breaching, Google will shut down the consumer version of its social network Google+. The information may have been exposed to third parties due to a bug in its software present for more than 2 years.
According to Google, 500,000 users data had been affected. The report published in the Wall Street Journal says, “ The company knew about the issue in March but did not disclose it.” While the company issued a statement saying, the issue was not serious enough to inform the public.
According to the report, they had discovered and patched the leak in the month of March this year, and had no evidence of misuse of user data or that any developer was aware or had exploited the vulnerability.
Meantime, the company’s share was reporedly down 1.5 percent at $1150.75 in response to what was the latest in a run of privacy issues to hit the United States’ big tech companies.
The WSJ quoted an internal Google memo that said doing so would draw “immediate regulatory interest”.
“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 memo said.
The company Google+ was launched in the year 2011, quickly became a household name, but failed to compete Facebook. Now, after months of speculations, the company Alphabet is going to shut Google+ for consumers.
But, the company said, “It would continue to offer private Google+ powered networks for businesses currently using the software.”
Google’s vice president of engineering Ben Smith, in a blog post on Monday, wrote, “It has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps.”
Earlier, the company had been reluctant to share data on how often Google+ was used, but now, facing the fall out of exposed data, the firm appears keen to play down its importance.
“The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90% of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds,” blog post reads.
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