Saikali Talks to The Wall Street Journal About Google+ Data Breach

Shook Privacy and Data Security Chair Al Saikali told The Wall Street Journal that Google could face class action lawsuits for not disclosing that the private data of hundreds of thousands of users was at risk last spring. According to the article, a software glitch reportedly allowed outside developers to potentially access private Google+ profile data between 2015 and March 2018 when the issue was discovered and repaired.

"The story here that the plaintiffs will tell is that Google knew something here and hid it. That by itself is enough to make the lawyers salivate,” said Saikali.

Complicating matters, there is no federal breach notification law in the U.S., so companies must refer to differing state laws, Saikali told the business publication.

"Fifty percent of the cases I work on are judgment calls,” said Saikali. “Only half the time do you get conclusive evidence that says this bad guy did access information.”

Shortly after The Wall Street Journal article was published, Google announced plans to shut down consumer access to Google+ and improve privacy protections for third-party applications.