Google is about to undertake a mass deletion of unwanted and neglected facets of its programming used by millions of people.
In a blog post written by Google Vice President of Product Management Ruth Kricheli in May, the company is taking steps to make itself less vulnerable from bad actors while cleaning up its inventory of unused and forgotten Gmail, drive and photo accounts that have “likely been compromised.”
“This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven’t had two-factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user,” the post read. “Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have two-step verification set up. Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam.”
To protect Google from any of these risks, the company policy to purge such accounts put into place in May will take effect in December 2023. Google updated its inactivity policy for accounts to two years across its products. Simply, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least two years, “we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos,” Kricheli wrote.
For those without access to their college Gmail, don’t sweat. Google’s plan will take a phased approach, beginning with accounts that were created and never used again. The company also plans to send “multiple notifications over the months” before anything is deleted, both to the “account email address and the recovery email (if one has been provided).”
The blog post explained how the easiest way to keep the account active is quite simply to sign in at least once every two years. Actions that make the account be considered active include:
- Reading or sending an email
- Using Google Drive
- Watching a YouTube video
- Downloading an app on the Google Play Store
- Using Google Search
- Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service
Kricheli also said Google users should create a backup plan for their account and content. This includes using the Takeout feature, or using Inactive Account Manager to allow users to decide what happens to their account and data when it‘s inactive for a period of up to 18 months.
Options for creating a backup plan using Inactive Account Manager include, according to Kricheli and Google:
- Sending specific files to trusted contacts of their choosing
- Applying a Gmail autoresponder
- Deleting their account entirely
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