A Google Bug Has Exposed Half a Million Users’ Information

A data breach has exposed the information of half a million Google accounts said Google on Monday.

The company said a Google bug in its developer platform on its Google Plus social network left information such as user’s name, email address, occupation, gender, and age, vulnerable to a breach. Google assured that it had found no evidence the data had been improperly accessed or misused.

The Wall Street Journal first broke the news about the bug and said the company’s top executives covered up the security incident out of fear of government regulation.

Google responded to WSJ and said it did not disclose the incident because it could not accurately identify the affected users, could not find evidence of misuse and could not identify actions to be taken by developers or users in response.

“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,” explained Ben Smith, Google’s vice president of engineering, in a blog post.

The company said it would be shutting down its Google Plus social service for consumers.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet fell more than 2 percent after Wall Street learned the news but rebounded some before the close.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and have not been compensated for this article.