35 million Google profiles were *already* exposed on the internet

Do you have a Google Profile? Did you find yourself getting the collywobbles when you read the headlines in the security press?

Here’s just a handful of the many headlines that have appeared in the last few days:

“35 Million Google Profiles Captured In Database”, Information Week

“35m Google Profiles dumped into private database‎”, The Register

“Entire Google Profile database acquired by a user”, ARN

Matthijs R. Koot, a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam, was able to create a database of 35 million Google Profiles, scooping up real names, email addresses, biographical information, Twitter feeds, links to Picasa photos, etc.

Sound scary to you? If so, maybe you’re one of those…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.