3 6 Ke·2025-09-28 07:13Core Points - A student from Georgia accidentally leaked his Google Cloud Gemini API Key on GitHub, leading to a bill of $55,444 in just a few months due to malicious usage [1][3][9] - The incident sparked discussions among developers regarding Google's lack of a hard spending cap and the need for better user protection mechanisms [2][6][8] Incident Details - The student registered for Google Cloud using a school email, intending to utilize the $300 free credit for learning experiments, but only consumed $80 before the leak occurred [3][4] - The API Key was exposed on June 6, and the student was unaware of the issue until September 7, when he was alerted by another GitHub user [3][5] - The bill accumulated in three phases: $732 in June, over $31,000 in August, and an additional $21,000 from September 1 to 7 [4][7] Google's Response - Upon discovering the issue, the student contacted Google Cloud support and provided evidence, but Google stated that the bill would not be canceled or modified [5][6] - The student expressed that the bill represented decades of income for him, highlighting the severe financial impact of the situation [6] Developer Community Reaction - The incident led to widespread discussion among developers, questioning why Google does not implement a hard spending limit and only provides alerts [8] - Some developers shared their own experiences and suggested best practices to prevent similar issues, such as limiting API call quotas and using tools to scan for leaked keys [8] Resolution - Ultimately, after increased attention from the developer community, Google Cloud's billing team reviewed the case again and waived the entire $55,444 bill on September 25 [9]