Recently, reports have surfaced regarding private data being leaked when customers sent their Pixel smartphones for repairs. Now, Google has officially acknowledged the issue and has begun investigating this incident.

Pixel models being sent for repairs have resulted in technicians and workers accessing private and personal information of the customer and then circulating it on the internet. These incidents were further revealed when game designer and author Jane McGonigal sent her Pixel 5a for repairs, only to find out that someone had accessed her Google Account and Dropbox. She tweeted about this incident, stated that private images of her had been accessed by a technician.

Furthermore, the victim added that she opened her activity logs to found out what the supposed repair worker had snooped around in and found that the malevolent technician had gained access to some of her very sensitive pictures. The worker even went as far as deleting the Google security notifications from her backup email accounts to cover up any evidence of their misdoings. McGonigal said that her Pixel phone was sent to a repair facility in Texas via mail.

The issue get even worse as when she contacted Google, the search engine giant told her that the company had never received her phone and is now charging her for a replacement. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident since another Pixel user suffered from a similar incident. They shared their horrifying experience about private images being leaked after they had sent their Pixel for repairs in another Texas repair facility. In other words, the issue has likely affected a number of users that might not even have any idea that their private data was stolen and is being exploited online.

Google has since acknowledged the issue and has stated that it is “investigating” the incident that McGonigal had reported on, in a statement to TheVerge (Via PhoneArena). McGonigal has since tweeted that “Pixel Support and Google Security have been extremely helpful today I am happy to report.” So fortunately, at least the issue is being looked into officially. But we have yet to see what the results the investigations finds. Was it actually a malicious repair technician or just a hacker with access to the facility, stick with us as we will be providing more updates.

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There is a growing suspicion that Google Pixel smartphones mailed in for repairs are being tampered with after the repairs and before being sent back to the owners. Game designer Jane McGonigal has relived her experience with her Pixel 5a smartphone which she mailed for repairs to a Texas Google facility. She claims that the smartphone was hacked into and someone used the smartphone to log into her Gmail account, Drive, photos backup email account, and dropbox.

McGonigal is advising against mail-in servicing of users of Google Pixel phones, as the device could be hacked. McGonigal also said that most of the photos opened by the hackers were of her at various stages of undress, with the intruders looking for nude photos that could be used against her. She also alleged that the hackers deleted Google security notifications in her backup email accounts, obviously aimed at covering their trail.

There has been another case relating to the same Texas facility where McGonigal mailed her Pixel smartphone, and it was alleged that the hackers went as far as accessing the user’s Paypal account and made a $5 transfer. These accusations are grave and are bound to hurt Google if drastic actions are not seen to be taken. Although no official statement has been made yet by Google, McGonigal hints that back-channel communication on the matter indicates that it is under review by Google.

McGonigal is advising that persons desirous of having their smartphones repaired/replaced should consider other ways of getting the stuff down rather than mailing the device to Google. The McGonigal issue could have grave implications for Google, and even litigation, as happened to Apple in a similar case.

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(via)

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