How a chatty friend caused a major leak.
In 2017, a Google used administrative privileges to access confidential information on Nintendo's YouTube channel related to the upcoming (at that time) Yoshi game. Information about the incident appeared in a Google database obtained by 404 Media, and soon leaked on Reddit before the official announcement of the Nintendo game.
The situation has shed light on how one Reddit user received information about Yoshi's new game, which was later released under the title Yoshi's Crafted World in 2019.
Google's database describing potential privacy and security breaches states:: "A Google employee intentionally posted confidential information to Nintendo." The database contains information about incidents that Google employees themselves reported internally. In a statement, Google said that all messages transmitted by 404 Media were resolved at the time of the incident.
On June 13, 2017, a Reddit user posted a thread titled " A new Yoshi game (probably Woolly World 2) will be announced for Switch." The post included a screenshot of a MacBook screen showing thumbnails of a video titled "Yoshi for Nintendo Switch-Official Game Trailer – Nintendo E3 2017". The screenshot contained a URL starting with www.admin.youtube[.] com, which indicated that you were using a corporate Google account.
Merged screenshot of the Yoshi game
In one of the comments to the post, the author added: "My friend works at Google and sent me this photo. The video is already on the Nintendo channel and will become public after the official announcement."
According to the database, a Google employee himself reported this violation to the company, attaching links to posts and comments on Reddit. The report notes that a Google employee probably accessed private videos on Nintendo's YouTube channel and posted the information online long before the public announcement at Nintendo's E3 event.
A summary of the report indicates that the leak may have been "unintentional." The document states that the former temporary contractor downloaded the video from an administrative account and shared the unreleased Nintendo information with a friend. The interview with him showed no malicious intent.
In 2017, a Google used administrative privileges to access confidential information on Nintendo's YouTube channel related to the upcoming (at that time) Yoshi game. Information about the incident appeared in a Google database obtained by 404 Media, and soon leaked on Reddit before the official announcement of the Nintendo game.
The situation has shed light on how one Reddit user received information about Yoshi's new game, which was later released under the title Yoshi's Crafted World in 2019.
Google's database describing potential privacy and security breaches states:: "A Google employee intentionally posted confidential information to Nintendo." The database contains information about incidents that Google employees themselves reported internally. In a statement, Google said that all messages transmitted by 404 Media were resolved at the time of the incident.
On June 13, 2017, a Reddit user posted a thread titled " A new Yoshi game (probably Woolly World 2) will be announced for Switch." The post included a screenshot of a MacBook screen showing thumbnails of a video titled "Yoshi for Nintendo Switch-Official Game Trailer – Nintendo E3 2017". The screenshot contained a URL starting with www.admin.youtube[.] com, which indicated that you were using a corporate Google account.
Merged screenshot of the Yoshi game
In one of the comments to the post, the author added: "My friend works at Google and sent me this photo. The video is already on the Nintendo channel and will become public after the official announcement."
According to the database, a Google employee himself reported this violation to the company, attaching links to posts and comments on Reddit. The report notes that a Google employee probably accessed private videos on Nintendo's YouTube channel and posted the information online long before the public announcement at Nintendo's E3 event.
A summary of the report indicates that the leak may have been "unintentional." The document states that the former temporary contractor downloaded the video from an administrative account and shared the unreleased Nintendo information with a friend. The interview with him showed no malicious intent.
