Google Photos

2024: Google made free tools to remove unnecessary objects and improve photo clarity

On April 10, 2024, the company Google announced the opening of free access to some advanced features of the Google Photos service, which were previously provided only to owners smartphones Pixel and users with a paid Google One subscription. In particular, anyone can use the AI Magic Editor tool for complex photo editing.

The free will reportedly include Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and Portrait Light features. The first of these tools makes it possible to remove unnecessary objects from photos: for example, you can remove the urn in the background or get rid of unnecessary details. The Photo Unblur option, in turn, allows you to increase the clarity of blurred images. And with Portrait Light, you can change the light source in pictures - for example, in portraits.

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The Magic Editor tool, which uses artificial intelligence algorithms, provides greater capabilities. With it, you can change the position of the survey object, fill voids, adjust the background or foreground, and perform other actions. Using Magic Editor, you can make the gray sky blue or get rid of unnecessary people in the frame. In addition, it will be possible to use some other options for free, in particular, Cinematic Photos and Color Pop.

To use the listed tools, you need a smartphone running Android 8.0 and higher or iOS 15 and higher. At the same time, there is a restriction on the use of Magic Editor: with its help it will be possible to edit no more than 10 photos per month, after which you will need to purchase a Google One Premium subscription. At the same time, functions like Best Take remain paid - it combines several similar photos into one with improved quality.^[1]

2021: Theft of money from maps of Russian citizens using Google Photos

In early February 2021, it became known about a new fraud scheme in Russia. Swindlers began to use the Google Photos service.

The principle of operation of the scheme To news"" was told in the company. In the standard Group-IB set of functions "Google Photos" it is possible to share the selected album with photos with other users. When an invitation comes to watch such an album, in most cases it is notified as a push notification on the phone.

The new album appears in the "General" section with just one photo informing that the user in his name on the Public services"" service has approved the payment.

Russians began to steal money from maps using Google Photos

The victim is offered to pay a transfer fee of 398 rubles through a fake payment service. When a user enters their data, scammers steal it, and then funds from the account.

The publication notes that a message about payments is sent through Google Photos to 40 users at the same time. And the number of those who use the popular service has long exceeded a billion people, which indicates a huge reach of a potential audience of attackers.

According to information security experts interviewed by the newspaper, in most cases, citizens of the older age category, adolescents and people with low levels of digital literacy become victims of the new fraud scheme. The latter are smartphone owners who are poorly versed in the functionality of storing photos and videos.

Konstantin Ordov, head of the Department of Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, believes that fraud using pre-installed applications and services is especially dangerous, since it causes trust at the subconscious level. He also believes that the main target of fraudsters is young people.^[2]

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