Beware. While repairing your Pixel can be hacked looking for frank photos, Google has already started an investigation

Recently, Google got into an unpleasant situation related to the leakage of user data. And not just like that, but during the repair of a broken smartphone!

What happened?

The Texas story was shared on social media by game designer Jane McGonigal. In October, she mailed her broken Pixel 5a for repairs, after which she began to notice that unknown people had access to her device and were trying to find something interesting. “In the pictures they opened, I was in a swimsuit, sports bra, bodycon dresses and seams after surgery,” says Jane.

Somebody used the phone to pass two-factor authentication and log into several of Jane's accounts, including Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive. She received several email alerts for backup accounts, but those alerts were soon removed by unknown persons.

It is still not clear who and how got access to the smartphone - the specialist who performed the repair, or somebody intercepted the gadget during transportation. But Google said that they never received this "pixel" for repair.

After the publicity, representatives of the company said that they had begun an investigation into the incident. Google's official repair instructions recommend backing up and then wiping your device before sending it in for repair, but this isn't always possible - for example, you won't be able to do this if your phone is completely inoperative.

It is possible that the problem also affected other users, who might not even suspect that their personal data was stolen and used on the Internet.

Source: @avantgame, TheVerge