If you’re one of the relatively few people who use Google+ in something other than an Enterprise setting, be advised that the clock is ticking. Google has just announced that they’re sunsetting the service. It will be going offline for consumers at some point over the next ten months.
The reasons for their decision are complex. In part, it stems from the fact that the company readily acknowledges that it has “low usage and engagement,” which is underscored by the fact that 90 percent of Google+ user sessions last less than five seconds.
Another major component driving the decision is that the company suffered serious pushback when it revealed a previously undisclosed security flaw that exposed users’ profile data. The company patched the issue in March of this year (2018), but the company’s long delay in going public with the flaw didn’t sit well with Google+’s user base.
Note that the company plans to continue offering Google+ for Enterprise customers to facilitate intra- and inter-company communications. In fact, they plan to roll out a raft of new features in the year ahead.
Google also recently announced other changes. Pending API changes, one new feature will limit developers’ access to data on Android devices and user Gmail accounts. Also, contact interaction data will soon be off limits, as will call logs and SMS permissions.
There are changes coming to Gmail itself as well, where developers will be sorely limited in how much access they have to user emails.
As Ben Smith (the company’s VP of engineering) explains, “Only apps directly enhancing email functionality–such as email clients, email backup services and productivity services (e.g., CRM and mail merge services)–will be authorized to access this data.”
Any developer who currently has this level of access can expect a security assessment and agree to the company’s new rules. We’ll provide more details as they become available, but broadly speaking, these are good changes that will enhance data security for the company’s legions of users.
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Symantec’s most recent statistics have revealed a disturbing trend. Malware designed to compromise checkout pages is seeing a big spike in use, with the company reporting a staggering 248,000 attempts since August 13th of this year, with more than a third of them (36 percent) between September 13th through September 20th. As disturbing as those numbers are, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Firefox is upping the ante where digital security is concerned, having just announced the release of a new, free service called ‘Firefox Monitor.’ The new service is designed with one specific goal in mind: To assist users in finding out if their accounts were exposed via a data breach.
If you use the GovPayNet portal, be advised that your personal information is currently at risk. Although at this point, there’s no indication that any hacker has made use of it. The portal is run by Government Payment Service, and is used by many Americans to pay fines, fees and bills generated by more than two thousand different government agencies operating in 35 states.
Google is making a small but pivotal change as it relates to calls placed to 911 operators. Having recently finalized a complex partnership with RapidSOS and West (two emergency technology companies) and T-Mobile, Google will now send location data from its “Emergency Location Service” when an Android user places a 911 call.
Google has recently made some changes and improvements to its G-Suite. It introduces new tools designed to allow managers and admins greater visibility into how the people in their organizations use the G-Suite.
Google scored a major coup in the auto industry. They just inked a deal that will put the Android OS in every car made by the global auto alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. It sold a staggering 10.6 million vehicles around the world last year.
A new piece of legislation is making its way through the halls of Congress that could standardize and streamline the data security and breach notification process for financial institutions. This is something that most people in the industry tout as an improvement over the current situation.
Perhaps the most significant change to the browser is the addition of a new password manager, which will offer to generate a random password when you sign into a website for the first time. The randomly generated password will be securely tucked away inside your Google Account and synced across both desktop and mobile versions of Chrome.
The Internet on devices continues to be a major problem when it comes to security. Unfortunately, a big part of the reason why comes down to end users. Recently, Bitdefender released a new report entitled “The IoT Threat Landscape And Top Smart Home Vulnerabilities in 2018,” and it paints a grim picture indeed.
