Google announced that it would start deleting inactive accounts in December this year. The company claims that it will help to protect users against security threats.
Google has announced that starting later this year, the company will delete Google accounts which have not been used for at least two years. This includes all content related to Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos.
Numerous notifications to the account email address and recovery email (if available) will be sent in the months leading to deletion. The policy updates will affect only personal Google accounts and will not apply to business clients.
The new policy states that a Google Account will be considered active if a user has signed in at least once every two years. “If you have signed into your Google Account or any of our services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted,” noted Google.
Deleting dormant accounts will improve security
The company claims that the policy updates will help to prevent cybersecurity threats such as spamming, phishing scams, and account hijacking.
According to the company, forgotten or unattended accounts frequently use outdated or reused passwords which may have been compromised. Also, they often lack two-factor authentication and receive fewer security checks from the user.
Such accounts are at risk of being compromised. If they are, they can serve as a means for various malicious activities ranging from identity theft to disseminating unwanted or malicious content.
“Our internal analysis shows that abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step verification set up,” read the announcement on the company’s blog.
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