Google Cloud is a popular cloud storage service offered by Google. It runs on the same internal infrastructure that Google uses for Google Drive, Google Search, Gmail, and even YouTube.
The leak was an unprotected cloud that included the personal data of hundreds of millions of individuals. The leaked data included names, genders, ages, ethnicities, credit ratings, income, net worth, employment status, etc. For other victims, the details included property information, such as property value, land size, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, year built, previous owners, mortgage and refinance data, and tax info, among other things. Some data was as trivial as whether or not the victim smoked, traveled, rode horses, or donated to charities.
The leak occurred when an unknown actor left an incredibly sized cloud unprotected. Investigators at Compritech found the database and immediately took action to inform the cloud’s owner. After no response, the investigators alerted Google. More than a month later, the owner had still not responded. The database was taken offline, presumably by Google, leaving millions of people wondering; who got their hands on my PII?
This leak occurred sometime before January 2020.
The leak impacts an unknown group of people; while we’re aware of the number of victims, the owner of the database is still unknown. This means that no one is sure whether or not the owner, be it a skilled hacker or a large corporation, is aware of the breach.
The leak affected 201,162,598 people. The exposed data has left the victims in peril, unsure of what the future holds.