Global panic as Google battles hackers to protect 1.8bn Gmail users
- Opens seven days window to assist victims
Sopuruchi Onwuka
Tech giant, Google, is currently batting an army of phishing syndicates that are trying with sophisticated dark technology to breach the accounts of over 1.8 billion global Gmail users.
Google also assures its mail users that there are hopes for victims to recover their accounts even if they fall for the torrent of phishing scams in recent months.
Phishing attacks like this one aim to get users to share their personal information with hackers, which they can use to steal victims’ identity or money.
The goal is to make the devious message appear as legitimate as possible to trick users into believing they’re sharing their information with a trusted entity.
That’s why the hackers behind this Gmail attack used Google Sites to craft their scam, ‘because they know people will see the domain is http://google.com and assume it’s legit,’ Johnson explained.
The Oracle Today reports that the tech company is activating all remedial measures to assist victims of the scams regain access even if they are locked out of their accounts by scammers.
All users need to do is ensure they have a recovery phone number or email set up in their accounts, which will allow them to answer security questions and verify their identity.
So Google has called on anyone who doesn’t have the backups enabled should do so now and within the week.
The phishing scam first reported by a developer for the cryptocurrency platform Ethereum, Nick Johnson, appeared to come from a legitimate Google address, claiming he’d been served a subpoena and needed to give up access to his account.
Google said that it has shut down the mechanism that allowed this method of attack to work, and recently shared guidance on spotting and avoiding email scams.
A Google spokesperson told DailyMail.com: ‘We’re aware of this class of targeted attack from this threat actor and have rolled out protections to shut down this avenue for abuse.
‘In the meantime, we encourage users to adopt two-factor authentication and passkeys, which provide strong protection against these kinds of phishing campaigns.’
‘Google will not ask for any of your account credentials — including your password, one-time passwords, confirm push notifications, etc. — and Google will not call you,’ the tech giant said.
