Google is on the agenda with a data breach exposed by a user who sent his Pixel phone for warranty. Game designer Jane McGonigal living in the USA delivered her broken Pixel 5a model device to the technical service for repair. After a few days, he found that his accounts such as Gmail and Drive, which included his private photos, were accessed without his knowledge.
Sharing the details of the incident on her Twitter account, Jane McGonigal said that she was looking at the naked photos of the people who took her phone. Saying that the security notifications sent to the backup account were deleted, McGonigal warned his followers and said, “Do not send your Google phone for warranty repair / replacement.”
Private photos in Google account accessed
Jane McGonigal shared the event on social media as follows:
Yes, do not send your Google phone for repair/exchange under warranty. Last night someone used my phone to sign in to my Gmail, Drive, photo backup email account, Dropbox. From what I saw in my event log, they opened a lot of selfies of mine hoping to find my nude photos.
In the photos they opened were swimsuits, sports bras, fitted dresses and post-op stitches. They deleted the Google security notifications on my backup email accounts.
https://twitter. com/avantgame/status/1467193000908312576
Jane McGonigal said that Google is trying to secure her Pixel phone with the “Find My Device” feature, which allows to remotely lock, reset and locate Android devices. However, he stated that this did not work despite repeated attempts to remote reset and lock.
It is not known whether the phone in question was seized by the technical service employees or during the transportation on the way to the service. “We continue to investigate these allegations,” Google told The Verge.
Google recommends resetting your Pixel phone before sending it in for service
The technology giant, on its Google Pixel support page, tells users, “Back up your phone, remove the SIM card, and reset your phone to factory settings before sending or delivering your device for repair. This action will delete all data stored on your phone.
However, resetting is impossible, especially when the device cannot be turned on at all. In order to avoid similar incidents, you can delete your private data by entering the cloud storage accounts of your phone or any technological device before sending it to the service. Thus, even if your account is hacked, you will at least protect your photos/videos.
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