CNNMoney
(New York)First published July 11, 2016: 10:40 PM ET
Pokemon Go maker: Coding error gave company access to
your emails
by Jose Pagliery @Jose_PaglieryJuly
12, 2016: 1:33 PM ET
The makers of Pokemon Go -- the
insanely popular smartphone game -- were forced to make emergency fixes to the
game because the app gave the company an unprecedented level of access into
players' personal lives.
For some users with iPhones, signing into the game with the
most convenient option -- using your Google account -- allows the gaming
company to read your emails.
That's because the Pokemon Go app gets "full
access" to your Google account. It's something most apps don't
dare demand.
Google settings state that "full access" means
Pokemon Go "can see and modify nearly all information in your Google
Account."
That includes access to email, according to Google.
Niantic, the game's developer, acknowledged the coding
"error" on Monday.
In a statement late Monday night, the company said it sought
only minimal information -- a person's unique player ID and email address. But
"the Pokemon Go account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full
access."
Niantic promised it will not use this supreme access of
personal information and said it has started working on a fix to reduce the
user permission needed to play the game.
"Google will soon reduce Pokemon Go's permission to
only the basic profile data that Pokemon Go needs," the company said.
Niantic was forced to admit its mistakes on Monday after
computer security experts realized that the video game gets a rare level of
access to your Google account.
Adam Reeve, a computer security expert at the cybersecurity
firm RedOwl, was the first to discover this.
"This is probably just the result of epic
carelessness," Reeve wrote in a blog post Monday. "I don't know how
well they will guard this awesome new power they've granted themselves... I
really wish I could play, it looks like great fun, but there's no way it's
worth the risk."
Google settings even warn users against granting this degree
of trust on its settings page: "This 'full account access' privilege
should only be granted to applications you fully trust."
Nintendo of America directed questions to the Pokémon
Company International which refused to comment.
"A game shouldn't require this amount of access to your
data," said Mark Nunnikhoven, a computer security expert with
cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.
Since the game was released last Thursday, it has been
downloaded on Android and Apple devices more than 5 million times.
CNNMoney (New York)First published
July 11, 2016: 10:40 PM ET
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