Google tweaks developers guidelines after Google+ breachOct 9 (AZINS) Google has announced a series of changes to its developer guidelines after it confirmed that a bug in its social network Google+ put to risk data of hundreds of thousands of users. As part of the latest changes, Google will limit the type of data developers can access through their apps plugged into Gmail. As Mashable reported, under the new guidelines, third-party apps will no longer be able to scan users' inboxes for targeted advertising or research purposes.

In addition to that, Google will also be tightening its review process for apps that access Gmail in order to ensure they are not requesting unnecessary access to personal data of users.

Tech giant Google shut down its social networking site Google Plus after a technical glitch was found to have compromised accounts and personal information of over 500,000 of its users.The announcement in this regard was made by Ben Smith, Google Fellow and vice-president of engineering, in a blog post-Monday, in which he noted that the Indian-American headed company could not confirm which users were impacted by the bug.

The technical bug was detected as part of an effort called Project Strobe started by Google early this year. It is a root-and-branch review of third-party developer access to Google accounts and Android device data and of our philosophy around apps' data access, he wrote.

The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report about it said that a software glitch in the social site gave outside developers potential access to private Google+ profile data between 2015 and March 2018, when internal investigators discovered and fixed the issue.

Google also announced launch of more granular Google account permissions that will show in individual dialogue boxes. "When an app prompts you for access to your Google account data, we always require that you see what data it has asked for, and you must grant it explicit permission," he said.

"Going forward, consumers will get more fine-grained control over what account data they choose to share with each app. Instead of seeing all requested permissions in a single screen, apps will have to show you each requested permission, one at a time, within its own dialogue box," Smith said.