After Google had to admit a data leak on its social network Google+ API, Google+ is discontinued for private users in August 2019. Google+ will be continue only to run internal for Google employees.
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Ben Smith from Google has published the article Project Strobe: Protecting your data, improving our third-party APIs, and sunsetting consumer Google+, describing more details. Also The Wallstreet Journal (WSJ) has a big story about that. In brief:
- Google found a vulnerability within it's Google+ API used by round about 500 Android apps, that allowed third party developers to access private G+ user data of potentially 500,000 accounts.
- The vulnerability has been there since 2015 and has been closed in March 2018, but Google can't say, if private data has been pulled. Access logs are stored only for 2 weeks.
- Google decided not to inform governements and the public about that potential data breach, due to the negative effect, that the Facebook Cambridge Analyctica data scandal have had.
As a consequence, Google has limited access from apps via the API to Google+, and after a transition period of 10 months, Google+ will be closed for private users on August 2018. Further detail may be found within the articles linked above.
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