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Inactive Personal Google Accounts in the Crosshairs

May 17, 2023

If you have a Google account for personal use, leaving it dormant could mean deletion of all data after a period of inactivity. CNET reported that Google may delete your account that has not been signed into or used after two years. The change in Google’s policy applies to accounts such as Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, YouTube and Google Photos as inactive accounts present a far greater security risk. “These accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam.”

The policy only applies to personal accounts and not those used for business purposes. The deletion will apply to the account data (e.g. email, stored files, documents, photos, etc.) and not just the logon credentials. In other words, inactive accounts will have all its data blown away. You can prevent the deletion by logging in and preforming some sort of activity every two years. Create a calendar reminder to “touch” your Google account on a periodic basis if you want to keep the account in an active status.

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