At Least Two US Attorneys General Are Investigating Google+ Breach (reuters.com) 34
At least two U.S. states are investigating a breach at Alphabet's Google that may have exposed private profile data of at least 500,000 users to hundreds of external developers. From a report: The investigation follows Google's announcement on Monday that it would shut down the consumer version of its social network Google+ and tighten its data-sharing policies after a "bug" potentially exposed user data that included names, email addresses, occupations, genders and ages. "We are aware of public reporting on this matter and are currently undertaking efforts to gain an understanding of the nature and cause of the intrusion, whether sensitive information was exposed, and what steps are being taken or called for to prevent similar intrusions in the future," Jaclyn Severance, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, told Reuters in an email. The New York Attorney General's office also said it was looking into the breach.
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I'm pretty sure that even if the terms of service clearly states "We can stalk and harrass you, steal your identity and sign up for credit cards in your name, sell your identity to organized crime so they can sign up for credit cards in your name too, then use the stolen money to buy property and life insurance abroad, then defraud that life insurance by faking your death." it is still illegal.
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Re: What laws (if any) were broken? (Score:2)
There was no breach. Bad reporting.
New Motto: (Score:4, Insightful)
Report No Evil.
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Ireland doesn't sound very happy about it. Perhaps the bigger concern than even New York.
I wonder if Google makes any money in Ireland?
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"People just submitted it. I don't know why. They "trust me". Dumb fucks." -Apparently Every Toad in the Valley
Class Action... (Score:2)
Class Action time. Give me money or give me... well, I don't care- $100million lawsuit would probably result in me getting 20 cents out of it. Actually- it would result in a fictitious Turkmenistani Harvard grad getting 20 cents out of it.
... after a "bug" ... (Score:2)
Retired IT guy.
I had bugs now and then. Sometimes the bug would be out of my wheelhouse and I'd call technical support.
Luckily, I had SLAs that were very good (expensive) and I got direct vendor support.
Maybe Google has to call their tech support in India?
Anyway, Google should get the extended warranty on their stuff.
The most surprising bit of that news (Score:2)
Equifax ... anyone (Score:1)
Whatever happened to the Equifax breach, oh yea, nothing... basically all Americans and a credit bureau ... https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/equifax-data-breach-what-do . Looking into Google for a measly 500K, that most likely did not even get exposed to outsiders, deserves a look into, meanwhile one of the big three credit agencies can keep gathering more and more data and breaching...
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Whatever happened to the Equifax breach, oh yea, nothing... basically all Americans and a credit bureau ... https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/b... [ftc.gov] . Looking into Google for a measly 500K, that most likely did not even get exposed to outsiders, deserves a look into, meanwhile one of the big three credit agencies can keep gathering more and more data and breaching...
Equifax: name, address(s), employment history, marital status, likely mother's maiden name, S.S.#, driver's license#, credit history, god knows wtf else.
Google+: User profile. Mine is quite empty, not even my last name. Not even sure when I last looked at it.
That's not to say whoever the douch(s) that decided to keep this quiet shouldn't be punished for stupidity. But damn, Equifax... no punishment that I can find.
There is a really obvious "why" question to ask. (Score:1)
I'm sitting here quietly chewing my cud thinking about this. It bothers me.
"Aha," says my mind to me, "we see all these big expensive suits brought by New York and other companies back East; and, for some unknown reason see nothing out of California." Is it the crazed denizens of sack-o-tomatoes trying to be delicate dancing around their pet tech companies? Have the tech companies purchased second options on those denizens, who are already wholly owned by the public employees unions?
Seriously, why does Cali
NOT A BREACH (Score:2)
A vulnerability and a breach ***ARE NOT*** the same thing, at all. The data was exposed, BUT NOT EXPLOITED.
I have seen the mainstream media male this same mistake on this story over, and over, and over again. I expect a little better from Slashdot.