JUNE 13TH GOOGLE SYNC UPDATE:
We are focused on releasing the contact and address book sync functionality
After further discovery regarding Plaxo not syncing with Google, we are finding that we will be unable to have the calendar sync functionality working. To set expectations, we are concentrating on releasing the contact and address book sync functionality.
When we do release by June 30th, your Plaxo address book will sync with Google, but the Google calendar will not sync with Plaxo. We feel contact sync is most critical to our customers. We are focusing our efforts to get contacts syncing as soon as possible. However, our engineers are currently evaluating the calendar sync feature, but we do not have a release timeline yet.
Getting the address book sync up and running is our top priority and we will have a new release for customers by June 30th. Our customers’ privacy and the security of their data is of the utmost importance to us. Thanks for your continued patience. Please contact us at help.plaxo.com with any additional questions.
JUNE 6TH GOOGLE SYNC UPDATE: We ran into Plaxo development issues while fixing Google Sync. This is our top priority and we will have a new release by June 30. Our customers’ privacy and the security of their data is of the utmost importance to us. Thanks for your continued patience.Please contact us at 1-866-GO-PLAXO with any additional questions.
GOOGLE SYNC UPDATE: We expect to re-enable Google Sync for Plaxo customers on Wednesday evening PT on June 6, 2012. Please contact us at 1-866-GO-PLAXO with any additional questions.
Some Google account holders may have received an email from Google yesterday with the title “Suspicious sign in prevented”. This notification was informing recipients of precautionary measures taken by Google to protect accounts which included temporarily disabling Plaxo’s API connection to Google’s address book and calendar.
What happened?
Google and Plaxo detected a malicious party misusing Plaxo’s server connection to Google as a means to login to Google accounts using a set of credentials the malicious party obtained on their own. These credentials were not obtained from Plaxo. This party used a function we call the AB Widget which we had slated for retirement to access those accounts hiding behind Plaxo’s proxy.
Both Google and Plaxo noticed this activity and as a precautionary measure Google temporarily disabled all Plaxo’s connections to Gmail address books and calendars including the sync service associated with your account. As a result, all users of Plaxo’s Google Sync service received a “suspicious sign in prevented” message.
What measures are we taking?
Plaxo is in full communication with Google’s security team and has taken steps to prevent future attacks including the full shutdown of the AB Widget. We are now also in the process of upgrading all API connections to Google, including our sync service, to use the more secure oAuth method, which we already have in place for importing address books.
While we upgrade our Google Sync service to use the more secure oAuth method, as a precautionary measure, we will leave the service disabled until we have it in place and will notify you when available.
What should you do?
While only a subset of the Google account holders that received this message were accessed by the malicious party, we recommend as a safety measure that you change your Google password. Also for Plaxo customers, Google Sync will remain disabled until we have the more secure oAuth method available at which point you’ll be notified. This is a top priority for Plaxo,
Our customers’ security and privacy is of the utmost importance to us and we are working diligently to continuously protect your data. View Plaxo’s Data Usage Practices.
