Google
Google Takeout is a program that allows people to download their Google content and data, including Chrome, Calendar, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube.
According to Google, the security incidences occurred between November 21 and November 25. The company only recently revealed and apologized for the accident.
With over 1 billion total users, Google Photos is a popular Google product considering it provides unlimited storage of photos and videos. Out of all the people who used Google Takeout to export data during the given timeframe, fewer than 0.01% of people were affected.
People who were affected received an email from Google with an admission of the breach.
Google has since fixed the technical issue and conducted an inquiry to learn more with the hope this type of incident will never happen again.
"We are notifying people about a bug that may have affected users who use Google Takeout to export their Google Photos content . . . These users may have received either an incomplete archive, or video--not photos--that were not theirs," said Google spokesperson in a statement to 9to5Google. "We fixed the underlying issue and have conducted an in-depth analysis to help prevent this from ever happening again. We are very sorry this happened."
While Google takes great measures to secure user data, and communicate what people can do to control their desired level of privacy, time will tell if this security breach will impact the trust that people have in Google when it comes to maintaining security and privacy--and what Google will do about this moving forward.
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/google-accidentally-sent-some-users-private-videos-to-strangers.html
- https://www.businessinsider.com/google-photos-accidentally-sent-users-private-videos-to-strangers-report-2020-2
- https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21122044/google-photos-privacy-breach-takeout-data-video-strangers
- https://www.technologyreview.com/f/615140/google-accidentally-sent-peoples-private-videos-to-strangers/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/277483/market-value-of-the-largest-internet-companies-worldwide/