Uploading data to the cloud should give users a little sense of relief.
If the provider promises reliability and security, the data should be available at anytime and anywhere, safe and sound, protected by users' credentials. But remember the fappening, the that Apple experienced years ago? It's a proof that nothing can really be secured.
And here, Google had a similar issue, when it accidentally shared archived videos of some Photos users with other Photos users for a brief period in 2019.
Unlike Apple's case, Google wasn't hacked. Instead, it experienced "technical issues" in Google Takeout, which is an app that allows users to download backups of their data from other Google product. This issue caused videos stored in Google Photos to be "incorrectly exported" to other people’s archives.
Google said that the issue only affected videos and not photos, and to only those users requesting Takeout exports between November 21 and 25 of 2019.
The news came as Google began alerting Takeout users about the technical issue.
When requesting a backup from the said date, some of Photos users' videos might be visible to random users that were also downloading their data through Google Takeout. The company did not specify what media was affected beyond “one or more videos in your Google Photos account was affected by this issue.”
Another implication is that the Google Photos' stored videos downloaded during that five-day period might be incomplete, while strangers’ media might be present.
"We recommend you perform another export of your content and delete your prior export at this time," requested Google.
According to the company, less than 0.01% of Photos users attempting Takeouts were affected, and no other product was affected with this particular issue.
Google said that the issue has been “identified and resolved,” and Google apologized to affected Photos users:
The extent of the bug remains unclear. But knowing that people may store sensitive videos to Google Photos, the implication can be alarming.
While the issue affected a minuscule percentage of Google Photos users using Google Takeout, it should be noted that Photos has over a billion installs on Android alone.
What this means, there are plenty of affected users.
This is yet another reminder for any mobile and internet users to keep their sensitive data off the cloud.
Read: Ways To Protect Your Privacy On The Internet: Your Personal Information Is A Commodity