#GMAIL ACCOUNT UPDATE#

This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information. The policy only applies to personal Google Accounts, and will not affect accounts for organizations like schools or businesses. Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos. To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years across our products. Meaning, 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. Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step-verification set up.

This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user. Which is why we have invested in technology and tools to protect our users from security threats, like spam, phishing scams and account hijacking.Įven with these protections, if an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. People want the products and services they use online to be safe and secure.

Gmail account