Based on the latest information available, it appears that Google would have allowed a Russian company indiscriminate and continuous access to personal user data despite the sanctions on Russian companies due to the war with Ukraine, ignoring the restrictions placed on them.
From the data we read in ExtremeTech, RuTarget –an ad technology company operating under the umbrella of Russia’s largest state-owned bank, called Sberbank— would have had access to the data of Google users, at least, until June 23ignoring the constraints by a total of some 700 occasionswhich makes it clear that it was not an accident, since it was happening for about four months.
It’s certainly clear that a lot of our data is out of control as soon as it hits the internet, which is why it’s important to take precautions. Neverthelessfor now it does not seem that there will be consequences for Google or RuTargetalthough it is early to tell.
The most worrying thing is that RuTarget would have been collecting data exclusively from Ukrainian usersso they may have been used to recognize large groups of users on the network or locate persons of interest.
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Jordi Bercial
Avid technology and electronics enthusiast. I’ve been messing around with computer components almost since I could walk. I started working at Geeknetic after winning a contest on their forum about writing hardware articles. Drift, mechanics and photography lover. Feel free to leave a comment on my articles if you have any questions.
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