In a stunning case that was uncovered and reported on by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, October 8th, 2018, it was revealed that Google has been keeping silent in regards to an enormous, widespread breach of their well-known Google+ platform, that can be dated back as far as this past Spring.
The unreported breach consisted of a bug in the API of Google’s Google+ platform, and acted to allow third-party app developers to access the data of, not just users who’ve previously granted permission, but also their friends, something that many people are saying is downright intrusive and unacceptable. During the time in which the Google+ platform was left vulnerable to this attack, it is estimated that roughly 438 various third-party applications might’ve accessed the compromised individuals’ accounts, in turn, obtaining their private data files and information, however, due to the fact that Google only keeps records off API usage for two weeks, it seems as though they may not have an inclination as to the overall extent of the breach.
As speculation has it, Google decided against informing the public about the data leak in efforts to avoid any undesired public relations issues, along with the possibility of having additional regulations imposed, and subsequently enforced, however, with there being no Federal Laws that required Google to disclose the exact nature and extent of the breach, there is little to be done to ensure that this misguided approach towards self-preservation does not become the norm among others within the industry.
In light of the current situation, and climate of the industry as a whole, Google’s Vice-President of Engineering — Ben Smith issues a statement to the Wall Street Journal, which read in-part:
“We found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and we found no evidence that any profile data was misused. Whenever user data may have been affected, we go beyond our legal requirements and apply several criteria focused on our users in determining whether to provide notice.”
-Ben Smith
This is yet another example as to why IAGON’s vision is to introduce an alternative to AWS, Google Cloud and Azure’s cloud services is necessary. Not only will we be able to cater to the needs of Big Data and AI operations, but we will also cover the conventional data storage and processing operations. IAGON aims to fulfill the cloud needs of organizations by providing bullet-proof security against data leaks and breaches, over the Blockchain, and at a lower cost. IAGON also develops AI based allocation of processing and storage tasks over the decentralized grid to continuously improve and optimize its performance.
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