Google Responds To Sudden Signout Of Users, Says It’s Not Hacking Related

Did you find yourself unexpectedly signed out of your Google account late last week? You’re not alone. On the same weekend Facebook users around the world received notifications their account had been hacked (it turned out to be just a technical glitch), many Google users were signed out of their accounts late Thursday night and Friday morning.

A specific number of people affected wasn’t released, but the issue was so widespread that Google had to issue a public response. “During routine maintenance, a number of users were signed-out from their Google accounts,” their statement said. “This may have resulted in you being signed out of your account or seeing a notification about ‘A change in your Google account’ or ‘Account Action Required'”.

Google seemed aware of the false Facebook “hacking” scare, and added “We hear your concerns that this appeared to potentially be phishing or another type of security issue. We can assure you that the security of your account was never in danger as a result of this issue.”

The issue even affected Google Wifi and OnHub devices, causing those devices restore to factory settings, with the only fix a complete setup again.

“Today we experienced an issue with our Google Accounts engine that may have affected your Google Wifi or OnHub device,” read Google’s statement about that issue. “This caused some devices to automatically reset to the initial state you bought them in. Unfortunately, these devices need to be set up again. We’d like to share our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.”

Google reiterated on Twitter the event was not relate to hacking, and assured everyone their accounts were safe. “We know some of you had issues signing in today. Please try again now. Rest easy — your account’s security was not affected.” read a Tweet from the official @Google account.