Google Currency Indication is currently showing that one dollar is exchanged for N184, but this is just a glitch in its software.
Speaking off the record, two staff members at Google confirmed that this was just a bug, and is currently being fixed by the search giant.
While some Nigerians fear that their stacked dollars may have lost tremendous value, others are celebrating a rise in the value of the naira, but many are aware this is just a temporary glitch.
According to Bloomberg currency rate, the dollar is currently trading at N361.8, with the local currency gaining N1.75 against the greenback.
Whatever the case is, we want to let Nigerians understand that the dollar is still trading at #358-#360 at the Foreign Exchange Market.
 |
| Exchange Glitch is back to normal |
Nigeria's digital publishing company, Publiseer, is set to partner with Google Play Books, to support Google's digital book distribution service in fulfilling the publishing requests it receives in Africa. In a connection email from Phyllis, a Project and Process Manager of Google, to Judy, the Lead Product Manager of Google Play Books, Google "is looking into ways to support the publishing requests that [it] received in Africa", and it sees Publiseer as the right feat for this.
"We met Phyllis via the Google Ally program, and since then, she has offered invaluable advice to us that has helped us made wiser decisions," says Chidi Nwaogu, the co-founder and CEO at Publiseer, who recently emerged a finalist at Opportunity Desk Impact Challenge 2019, which seeks to recognize and support the efforts of young change-makers working to bring positive change to their communities.
"Since Google Play Books isn't in Africa and doesn't plan on expanding to expand to Africa in the nearest future, it has sought to partner with a leading digital book publisher here in Africa to fulfill the publishing requests it receives in Africa, and we are humbled to be considered," Chidi continued. This partnership comes at the time Publiseer announced its expansion to Egypt, its first entrance to Northern Africa.
This is Publiseer's fourth expansion outside its home country Nigeria. Before this, Publiseer has expanded into Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. With this expansion, Publiseer's authors and musical artists from Egypt will get customer support via +20 101 818 7476.
Publiseer is a digital publishing company for independent African writers and musicians, founded in 2017 by Nigerian serial entrepreneurs and computer programmers Chidi Nwaogu and Chika Nwaogu. Publiseer has been nominated for the 4th AppsAfrica Innovations Awards under the "Media & Entertainment" category.
Social media may be too new to know this, but you need to tread lightly when Washington, DC, is looking. While President Trump has expanded his vocabulary to include “fake social” and “fake search,” last week we had Facebook employees come out against the company for its “political monoculture.”
The calling out of the liberal mindset that is prevalent in Silicon Valley couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Last week’s hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on how foreign influence operations use social media to spread political propaganda opens the doors for all sorts of new grilling.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has invited Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to appear on Wednesday.
As of press time, Google would only offer to send its senior vice president of global affairs.
That is not how you handle a Senate request, Google, after being called out by the president days earlier.
What these companies appear to be forgetting is that there are shareholders who do not want to hear static about their shares taking a hit over political bias.
A public social media company can’t conflate management’s political views with what it permits platform users to view on its sites and still say it is looking to serve shareholders’ interests.
Intentionally excluding or turning off users isn’t good for advertising revenues.
Social media companies have an obligation to their shareholders to not pollute their own brand and disenfranchise their platforms’ user bases. The revenue derived from advertising is based on the number of users.
It’s time for Silicon Valley to grow up and act in a way that is good for its shareholders since they are the real owners of the companies.
Web search engine, Google, has unveiled Google Station aimed at providing free high-quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots to millions of Nigerians. The launching made Nigeria the fifth country to get Google Station, after India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico.
The Google Country Director, Mrs. Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, who made the disclosure in Lagos on Friday, said the station would roll out in 200 locations in five cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019.
“Google for Nigeria in its second year made some big announcements aimed at helping more people in Nigeria, and across Africa to benefit from the opportunities the web has to offer.
“In a bid to make the internet more easily accessible to people in Nigeria, Google is launching Google Station for Nigeria – a programme to provide high quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots.
“Google Station will be rolling out in 200 locations in five cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019, bringing Wi-Fi to millions of people.
“The sites include markets, transport hubs, shopping malls and universities,” she said.
The official said that Google launched the Google Station in partnership with 21st Century, one of the largest fibre network providers in Nigeria.
She said that Google was also making search better for the ordinary Africans, noting that job search it launched in March in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, was rolling out in 29 new countries.
Ehimuan-Chiazor said that, in Nigeria, Google was launching a search experience that would allow users to explore their health conditions based on symptoms, adding that it was making a recipe search.
She said that Street View’s Discover Nigeria Gallery had been expanded to include more Nigerian wonders including the National Museum in Lagos, Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Millennium Park in Abuja and Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos.
She said that the Google for Nigeria had updated several products from its “Go” initiative launched in 2017, and added new features to include Google Go, YouTube Go, Google Map Go and Android Go.
“The Go product suite was aimed at giving people with low bandwidth connections and low-RAM devices the best possible Google experience.
“Google Go reads web pages out loud and highlights each word so users can follow along.
“For YouTube Go, users will be able to browse downloaded YouTube Go videos saved as files right from the gallery to their phones.
“Google Maps Go will provide users with turn-by-turn directions, whether they are traveling by car, bus or walking on foot,’’ she said.
The official said that Android Go, Launched in Nigeria and 29 other African countries early this year, gave people coming online for the first time a reliable smartphone experience.
She said that Google had trained no fewer than over 2.5 million of the 10 million Africans, it promised to train by 2022 on digital skills.
She added that Google trained another 9,000 Africans in mobile app development.
According to her, the Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Africa initiative graduated 12 promising startups from the continent in June.
“The application process of the ongoing Google Impact Challenge, part of Google’s $20 million Google.org commitment to Africa over the next five years, closed with over 5,500 entries. The process of selecting the 36 finalists has begun.
“We are offering new solutions to improve and expand access in Nigeria and across Africa.
“These launches demonstrate our commitment to Africa through products built to help people in Africa to make the most of the Internet,” Ehimuan-Chiazor said.
Source
NTA
The Plateau Government says it is initiating talks with its development partners, multinationals like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and local organisations to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the state.
The Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr Dan Manjang, disclosed this on Wednesday in Jos when the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Plateau Council, paid him a courtesy visit.
Manjang said that the desire of the government to partner with these organisations was in a bid to facilitate the development of ICT skills of its people, especially the youths, through training using these platforms.
“We are consulting with our development partners and will soon commence talks with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and some other local organisations to ensure the skills of the Plateau people are harnessed,’’ he said.
The commissioner said the state government was working toward organising a science and technology summit, adding that government hoped the event would herald the formulation of a viable science policy.
“The relevant technology centres in our state presently produces mobile aids for physically challenged people and our science production centre produces laboratory equipment for secondary and tertiary institutions.
“The works from our technology incubation centre have been presented at international forums such as a drone produced there was presented at a competition in Indonesia.
“We emerged third at the competition; a tractor and bullet-proof vests and many more have been produced at the centre.
For many users of Google, the search engine giant will always be available online. It is near impossible for it to shut down many will argue. This is because many people rely heavily on Google to do a lot of things. But do you know that Google did shut down in the past? In August 2013, Google and all of its services came down for two to three minutes. Internet traffic as a whole went down by a massive 40 percent.
A similar incident occurred in May 2009. Not for a day, but for a few minutes. So, if Google goes down for a day what will likely happen? Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency shares five of these things.
1. You cannot Google anything
The internet is a huge information dish. You can get any information you so desire by just googling. Many of us have taken this for granted. When Google is unavailable, this is one of the things you would be unable to do. You may result to alternatives whose results may not be as good as Google.
2. Business will lose customers
Today, many customers google services they want. From the results, they can select a business to provide the services. Businesses will definitely lose these set of customers. And because we are in the internet age, this is likely to have a ripple effect on turnover.
3. Revenue loss
Since you are losing customers, it follows that you will experience a dip in revenue. This may not be immediate. The revenue loss occurs over time.
4. No need to worry about SEO
Due to the fact that many businesses want to rank better on Google, they optimise their content by employing the services of SEO specialists. With Google down, you do not need to worry about SEO. You can simply post and share your content.
5. Significant drop in internet traffic
Google contributes significantly to internet traffic. So, if you get 10,000 visits daily, it may reduce to 5,000. This will mainly affect websites that have high Google ranking because of their strong SEO.
On October 4 at noon ET (9am Pacific, 5pm UK), Google is having a major hardware event in San Francisco.
Just like last year, the event will be headlined by a flagship smartphone launch—this year, it's the Google Pixel 2. This is an event for the whole Google Hardware division, though, so we should also see the launch of the Google Home Mini, a revision to the smartphone-powered Daydream VR goggles, and a new flagship Chromebook called the "Google Pixelbook."
The Pixel 2 is expected to have the usual 2017 flagship smartphone specs, with a Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The Pixel 2 XL is getting a slim-bezel front design reminiscent of the LG V30 (because the phone is manufactured for Google by LG), while the smaller Pixel 2 (manufactured by HTC) is expected to look a lot like last year's model. Both get a metal back with a glass window that looks like an evolution of last year's design, along with squeezable sides. The Pixel line is all about Google software, though, and this year we're hoping to see the debut of Google Lens, a visual search app along the lines of Google Goggles.
Just as the Google Home was Google's answer to the Amazon Echo, the Google Home Mini is expected to be a Google version of an Amazon Echo Dot. It keeps all the smarts of a voice appliance while swapping the thumping speaker hardware for a smaller sound system designed less for music and more for voice output. The Google Home Mini is expected to be just $50, making it considerably cheaper to outfit a house with than the $129 Google Home.
The Pixelbook seems to be a new flagship Chromebook with a whopping $1,199 starting price. Chrome OS fansite ChromeUnboxed has been tracking the device under the codename "Eve" since 2016, and the site has a great rundown here. The TL;DR is that the new laptop should have an Intel Kaby Lake chipset, a 12.3-inch 2400x1600 display, and storage that seems like crazy overkill for a Chromebook, with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB options. The device represents a new generation of Chromebooks, with a lot of "firsts" for Chrome OS, like a $99 Wacom Active Electrostatic (AES) stylus (think Surface Pen or Apple Pencil), a fingerprint reader, and Google Assistant support with a hardware "Assistant" button. It also has a backlit keyboard and some kind of "convertible form factor" (a fold-back hinge?).
There might be some other surprises, like more Pixel Phone-specific software changes and maybe some Google headphones.
No matter what happens, we'll be there to cover everything live, and we'll go hands-on with all the new gadgets. Be sure to tune in for the liveblog!
A lot of people went into Internet marketing because they were sold the idea that they could make a lot of money with Google AdSense. While it is true that many do make money with this pay-per-click monetization method, others are just so frustrated by the poor results they get from AdSense.
Can you still make a living out of Google AdSense?
Is making money online with Google AdSense Still Relevant today?
The lack of expected results from AdSense and the many complaints about Google’s changes in its policies have made many rethink whether AdSense still works as a way of making money online.
You cannot blame them for making this conclusion because Google’s many changes in policies and the reality of making money with AdSense have left so much to be desired.
That being said, many still recommend the AdSense program as one of the good ways of making money online because:
♦ It is owned by Google and therefore would be given preference by the search engine.
♦ Google still earns lots of revenue from the AdSense program as it shares revenue with publishers on 68/32 scale. Earnings from the complementary AdWord program or pay-per-click (PPC) are shared with publishers earning 68% and Google taking home 32%.
♦ It is free and can be complemented with other advert programs that include affiliate marketing.
The argument for Google AdSense is clear but most would not like to put their effort and resources on the program because of:
♣ Poor earnings compared to other monetization systems like direct sales, affiliate marketing, etc.
♣ The high competitive nature of the program. There are millions of users of the program including large corporations and small businesses. In this case, it would be nearly impossible for newbies to think of making a great living with Google AdSense.
With these thoughts about Google AdSense, there are still many websites making money with this monetization system. Recommendations from experts and Google for success with this program are:
1. A website must be rich with content to provide value to readers.
Any type of content like text, images, videos, graphics, podcasts, etc., is acceptable as long as it complies with Google’s content policies.
2. A website must be of standard quality in the eyes of Google.
A high quality website remains a source of solution to the target audience. It contains high quality information and instruction that attract and resolve readers’ problem.
3. A website must drive more targeted traffic to earn from AdSense.
The more unique visits per day on the website the more likely would the site convert.
4. A website must target the right keywords.
These are keywords that are frequently used by advertisers to promote their products, the words that people uses to make their search. The right keywords are action keywords that enable people take action and it is important to go Longtail when thinking of keywords.
5. A website must comply with Google’s AdSense policy.
These policies ensure that your website is not just built for AdSense but it provides purposeful information that would help solve the readers or visitors’ problem.
There are many websites today that are still earning well from the AdSense program. They comply with the above and much more. The beginning of earning great from the AdSense is adherence to the webmaster guidelines and AdSense policies set by Google.
More so, a website that wants to do well must have quality in content and design, and it must be driving quality targeted traffic.
Conclusively, it’s safe to say making money with Google AdSense is possible and still relevant, but I will love to hear from others here:.
With the high competitiveness of the program, the changes and strictness in Google’s AdSense policies and Webmaster guidelines and the poor earnings compared to other monetization program:
Source
Kingged
Five Kenyan teenage girls who invented “I-cut”, an app to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) will visit Google Headquarters in California, U.S.A.
The app connects girls at risk of FGM with rescue centres and gives legal and medical help to those who have been cut.
According to Vanguard, organizers say the five teenagers, aged 15 to 17, are the only Africans selected to take part in this year’s international Technovation competition, where girls develop mobile apps to end problems in their communities.
Stacy Owino, one of the contestants said
“FGM is a big problem affecting girls worldwide. It is a problem we want to solve. The experience will change their lives. Whether we win or not, our perspective of the world and the possibilities it has will change for the better”.
UNICEF said that 200 million girls and women alive today in 30 countries around the world have been subjected to FMG, a range of procedures that can cause extreme physical and psychological pain, prolonged bleeding, HIV, infertility and death.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also said that one in four Kenyan women and girls have undergone FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, even though it is illegal in the East African nation.
There are quite a number of startups in Nigeria who are constantly searching for the most effective, best and affordable ways to promote and advertise their businesses. Now with the internet, there are so many platforms you can advert on to reach millions. If you have been pondering on where to promote your business online, see 6 best and most effective ways to do this.
A. Email Newsletters
Your weekly or monthly newsletter can also serve as a way to promote your business. You can design a nice banner and attach it to every newsletter you send out. You can also encourage your employees to do the same. It does not have to be restricted to newsletters.
B. Facebook Ads
With Facebook ads, you have the opportunity to run target ads. The advantage here is that you will reach more people. In other words, if you promote your ads on Facebook, people that will not normally see it will.
C. Appvertising
Appvertising, as the name implies, is advertising in mobile apps. This can also work because many people have embraced the download and use of apps. Just find an app that speaks to your specific audience.
D. Google AdWords
This is one of the very popular ways to advertise. Google Adwords is the largest ad network for advertisers. Select keywords for which your ads will get optimized and whenever a user searches for the word, your ads will pop up on Google.
E. Twitter Advertising
You can also advertise your startup on Twitter at an affordable rate. Like Facebook, your ad will reach more people, compared with your tweet.
F. Sponsored Post
You can publish a sponsored post about your business on a popular website or blog. This can also be very effective.
Quick warning! If there’s an e-mail in your inbox asking you to open a Google Docs from someone, and you don’t know who it is, don’t open it. It’s probably a phishing email disguised as a contact attempting to share a file from Google Docs, says Google.
The scam is one of the oldest around, akin to sending an e-mail asking you to click a hyperlink. Do so, and hackers can get access to your information. The email appears to come from someone inviting the user to share a document.
The sophisticated email looks very similar to one sent by Google, but appears to come from an individual Gmail account. Look closely and you’ll see the difference between bogus and fake.
Google released a statement Wednesday, saying it had taken action to protect users against the impersonating email, and have disabled offending accounts:
We’ve removed the fake pages, pushed updates through Safe Browsing, and our abuse team is working to prevent this kind of spoofing from happening again. We encourage users to report phishing emails in Gmail.
Source
USA Today
Google said on Wednesday that achievements, contributions and a scandal involving women, topped the list of internet searches last week.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Anglophone West Africa made the announcement in Lagos. According to him, the development shows that women are steadily coming worldwide.
He said that the searches which ended on March 15 saw the internet filled with excitement as people went online to search for the International Women’s Day.
The International Women’s Day, which was on March 8, was another reason to celebrate the contributions of women all over the world and Nigeria was not left out.
The earliest women’s day observance was held on February 28, 1909 in New York and organised by the Socialist Party of America.
It was really nice to see that Nigerians observed this celebration and Nigerian women were also celebrated.
The Google manager said that the return of President also got people’s attention online.
“”Yes, so President Buhari finally leaves London and returns to Nigeria.
Hopes were rekindled and faces lifted again as the President of Nigeria returned from his London vacation and routine medical check-up.
After being away for 51 days, President Buhari is finally back at Aso Villa and rededicated to serving Nigeria and Nigerians,” the Google spokesman said.
The Stephanie Otobo, Canada-based singer vs Apostle Johnson Suleman, the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) Worldwide saga also got attention online.
Suleiman raised an outcry of a plot by Festus Keyamo, a legal practitioner, and his alleged paymasters, to unveil a cloned video clip to prove that he had an ardent relationship with Otobo.
Nollywood actress Daniella Okeke also disclaimed involvement with the Suleman sex scandal.
Daniella said she had been directed by her lawyers to keep mute and it would be the responsibility of her lawyers to respond on her behalf.
Nollywood actress Mercy Johnson’s appointment as the Senior Special Assistant on Entertainment, Arts, and Culture by Yahaya Bello of Kogi also got attention online.
The Oyo State Government has formed a partnership with Google to train 30,000 secondary school students on digital media across the 33 Local Government Areas and the 35 Local Development Council Areas (LCDAs) of the state.
This information was disclosed by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun, on Wednesday, that the initiative was in line with the OYSG Digital Advocacy Drive.
He furthermore, reiterated the vision of Governor Abiola Ajimobi to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) the bedrock of learning.
He stated that the pilot sessions of the programme commenced on Thursday, February 16, 2017 at St. Patrick Grammar School, Basorun, Immanuel College, UI and Loyola College, Ibadan.
He also added that another round of sessions would hold on Thursday March 2, 2017 at Ibadan Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan, Oba Abass Alesiloye Secondary School, Eleyele and Lagelu Grammar School, Agugu, Ibadan.
Arulogun further stated that subsequent training of secondary school students will continue across eight zones of the state which include: Ibadan City, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Irepo, Saki, Kajola and Ibarapa after assessment and evaluation of the pilot sessions.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to Governor Ajimobi on ICT, Mr Niyi Ajao, in his remarks at the pilot session explained that the governor considered ICT as a prerequisite skill for students in an increasingly competitive digital economy.
He also noted that the office of the Special Adviser (ICT) and the Ministry of Education have identified centers for the training of the 30,000 secondary school students.
In a related development, Mr Arulogun said that digital technology has a lot of potentials and that the future of the country is bright with the increasing trend of internet connectivity.
The commissioner, while speaking at the launch of a free wireless service by Flobyt Nigeria in Lagos recently, had urged the founders of the initiative not to relent in their efforts to democratise internet usage in the country.
At the end of April, Google set up its own hardware division and appointed former Motorola president Rick Osterloh to run it. The idea was to bring the company’s various gadget projects under a single umbrella. Now, our sources say that Google is gearing up to design and manufacture a smartphone on its own – representing a major shift from its standard strategy of partnering with major handset makers like LG, Huawei and HTC to develop Nexus devices that showcase the Android platform.
The phone is slated to launch near the end of this year; Google is believed to be in talks with mobile operators about the release. It’ll be interesting to see what this means for all the hardware firms Google partners with to build Android and Chrome OS devices, as well as for the Android platform itself.
Speaking to Recode’s Walt Mossberg at the Code Conference earlier this month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company is investing a lot more effort into phones, but didn’t specify whether it would begin building its own handsets.
There’s a chance that this might alienate hardware makers, or prove to be a step towards Google starting to close up access to Android. But that wouldn’t be a smart move: one of the reasons Android enjoys more than 80 percent of the mobile OS market share globally is because a wide range of manufacturers can customize and market products for various price ranges, languages and regional preferences.
So, should we be more excited about a Google-built phone than a Nexus one? Google already works closely with manufacturers on Nexus hardware, so it’s hard to imagine that the company’s in-house device will be much more optimized to work well with Android than one developed by a third-party hardware company.
However, it might give Google’s new hardware division a chance to show us what it’s made of and introduce some new design thinking into the hardware. The company has previously guided developers on what their software for the platform should look like with its Material Design language and resources, but hasn’t done much on its own to define the Android hardware experience.
The company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said last month that Google was “investing more effort” into phones, although he said the company would continue to support the Google-backed Nexus smartphones, which are expected to continue this year with handsets made by Taiwanese company HTC. “Our plan is still to work with [other manufacturers],” he said.
The move could add an extra dimension to EU claims that Google has abused Android’s dominance. In April, the European Commission formally charged the company with monopoly abuse, accusing it of using the success of Android and the Google Play store to push its search engine and Chrome web browser. The commission has the power to fine Google as much as 10pc of its $75bn (£55bn) revenue.
Source
The Telegraph
Just weeks after hackers gained access to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s social media accounts, those same hackers say they have claimed another prominent victim. Sundar Pichai isn’t going to have a happy start to his week. The CEO of Google’s Quora account appears to have been hacked by a group called OurMine, which previously broke into Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts earlier this month.
Hacker group OurMine said on Monday that it had gained access to the Twitter and Quora accounts of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The members were responsible for posting tweets to Pichai’s Twitter timeline before losing access. The hacking group OurMine said it plans to target more tech execs and celebrities.
The three-man hacker outfit has been posting messages on Quora through Pichai’s account; it’s also connected to his Twitter account and as a result, OurMine was able to publicize their hack to all 508,000 of his followers. The tweets have now been removed.
"We are just testing your security,” the hackers wrote, with the same message auto-posted via Quora to Pichai’s Twitter account. On Monday, the posts had been deleted.
The hacks have been fairly innocuous so far, with no major repercussions or sensitive data stolen. But Silicon Valley types are likely wondering who'll be next.
In Zuckerberg's case, the hackers claimed to have broken in by finding his password, “dadada,” which was exposed in a breach at LinkedIn. In Pichai’s case, OurMine only said that “his security was really weak.” The group posted information about the hack on its website.
OurMine said via email that it would continue to hack the accounts of tech executives and celebrities. Last week, the group claimed to have taken over the Twitter accounts of movie star Channing Tatum and of Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, and posted screenshots.
On Monday this week, the group hit the Twitter account of Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. In a tweet, Vogels said it was actually his Bitly account that had been compromised. So far, it seems the hacks are more of a publicity stunt. The group has tweeted that users can upgrade their security by purchasing OurMine’s services.
For $100, the group claims it can improve the security of social media accounts. For $1,000, it will scan a website for vulnerabilities.
"We are just trying to tell everyone that nobody is safe!” OurMine said via email. Some accounts were broken into because of weak passwords, others because of some "vulnerability," the group added, without specifying. OurMine claimed to have made $18,400 so far selling its services.
OurMine is attempting to rebrand itself as a 'SECURITY FIRM' and offering its support to those it targets so that these incidents don’t occur again. It’s probably not the best way to garner your potential customers’ trust, but that’s the way OurMine seems to enjoy doing business.
We’ve contacted Google, Quora and OurMine for comment and will update this post if there’s a response.
In an Interview, OurMine told tech site "The Next Web" (TNW) that it was only conducting a test:
“We are just testing people security (sic), we never change their passwords, we did it because there is other hackers can hack them and change everything.”
The group also noted that it managed to break into Pichai’s account by exploiting a vulnerability in Quora’s platform – one that it claims to have reported to the company, with no response. Naturally, if you’re on Quora, you’ll want to change your password right away and make sure it isn’t the same as what you for other services.
Quora reportedly told TNW in a statement that it doesn’t believe a vulnerability on its platform led to Pichai’s account being broken into:
We are confident that Sundar Pichai’s account was not accessed via a vulnerability in Quora’s systems. This is consistent with past reports where OurMine exploited previous password leaks on other services to gain access to accounts on Twitter or Facebook.
We also have no record of a report by OurMine pointing to a vulnerability. We recommend that people use unique passwords for accounts on different services, so that a security breach on one service does not lead to attackers gaining access to accounts on other services. Safeguarding our users is very important to us, which makes security at Quora one of our highest priorities.
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