Users of Google Cloud storage services who have been dormant for the past two years now have slightly over two weeks to reactivate their personal accounts, failure to which the giant tech firm will move to delete critical data stored therein.

The caution was first issued in May and Google has in recent days taken to issuing email reminders to users with inactive accounts via both the affected as well as the recovery addresses, indicating that the deletions will begin on December 1.

The move, which the tech multinational says is aimed at optimising data management and bolstering security, will see the erasure of all data found in any of Google’s services including Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive, which hosts visual and audio media files such as photos, videos and music.

“An inactive Google Account is an account that has not been used within a two-year period. Google reserves the right to delete an inactive Google Account and its activity and data if you are inactive across Google for at least two years,” states the tech firm in its account policy statement.

“Google also reserves the right to delete data in a product if you are inactive in that product for at least two years.”

According to the vice president of production management at Google Ruth Kricheli, inactive accounts are often more vulnerable to security risks as they typically lack recent security updates such as the two-factor authentication, and may have outdated passwords making them easier targets for cyber threats.

“If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user,” wrote Kricheli in a blog post.

“Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have two-step-verification set up.”

To avoid being caught up in the onslaught, users have been advised to carry out basic tasks using their affected accounts to ensure activity before the announced date, including sending an email, downloading an application from the Play Store, watching a YouTube video or even simply logging into the account.

Notably, only personal accounts are targeted in the deletion spree, with institutional or business-related addresses being spared.

Google has confirmed that once implemented, the erasure process will be irreversible.