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Google leaked the complete hidden whois data attached to more than 282,000 domains registered through the company's Google Apps for Work service, a breach that could bite good and bad guys alike. The 282,867 domains counted by Cisco Systems' researchers account for 94 percent of the addresses Google Apps has registered through a partnership with registrar eNom. Among the services is one that charges an additional $6 per year to shield from public view all personal information included in domain name whois records. Rather than being published publicly, the information is promised to remain in the hands of eNom except when it receives a court order to turn it over. Starting in mid 2013, a software defect in Google Apps started leaking the data, including names, phone numbers, physical addresses, e-mail addresses, and more. The bug caused the data to become public once a domain registration was renewed. Cisco's Talos Security Intelligence and Research Group discovered it on February 19, and five days later the leak was plugged, slightly shy of two years after it first sprung. Whois data is notoriously unreliable, as is clear from all the obviously fake names, addresses, and other data that's contained in public whois records. Still, it's reasonable to assume that some people might be more forthcoming when using a supposedly privacy-enhancing service Google claimed hid such data. Even in cases where people falsified records, the records still might provide important clues about the identities of the people who made them. Often when data isn't pseudo-randomized, it follows patterns that can link the creator to a particular group or other Internet record. As Cisco researchers Nick Biasini, Alex Chiu, Jaeson Schultz, Craig Williams, and William McVey wrote: Google began warning Google Apps customers of the breach on Thursday night. An official e-mail reads: It's not particularly easy for the uninitiated to get bulk access to the 282,000 whois exposed records, especially now that two weeks have passed since the data has once again been hidden. Registrars make it difficult to download mass numbers of records, but as the Cisco researchers point out, the falsified data is now a permanent part of the Internet record that won't be hard for determined people to find. It wouldn't be surprising if now-hidden records begin selling in the black market soon. Google's breathtaking failure is a potent reminder why in most cases people do well to provide false information when registering for anything online. In some cases, accurate information is required. More often than not, things work fine with fields left blank or filled in with random characters. It's hard to know just how many people will be bitten by this epic blunder, but even if it's only 10 percent of those affected, that's a hell of a price. Update: A Google spokesman said the bug resided in the way Google Apps integrated with eNom's domain registration program interface. It was reported through Google's Vulnerability Rewards Program. The spokesman said the root cause has been identified and fixed. Source