Google issues urgent warning to billions of people with Gmail accounts who are all at risk

If you have a Gmail account, you need to listen up. Google has issued an urgent warning to all Gmail users to change their passwords because a well-known group of hackers are targeting accounts – and have been for months.

Google’s Threat Intelligence Group first became aware of the threat in June, but confirmed in an August blog post that there have been many successful “intrusions” into people’s Gmail accounts.

It all started when a notorious hacking group called ShinyHunters managed to trick a Google employee into revealing login details for a company system called Salesforce, giving them access to business files. No passwords were stolen, but people’s contact details, company names, and email addresses have been compromised, which are still valuable to hackers.

Hackers are now using the stolen information to impersonate Google workers, posing as Google in fake phone calls, emails and text messages. These phishing messages urge people to reset their passwords, giving cybercriminals access to their accounts.

Credit: Canva

Cybersecurity expert James Knight told The Sun: “There’s a huge increase in the hacking group trying to gain leverage on this. There’s a lot of vishing – people calling, pretending to be from Google, text messages coming through in order to get people to log in, or get codes to log in. If you do get a text message or a voice message from Google, don’t trust it’s from Google. Nine times out of 10, it’s likely not.”

Google also believes the ShinyHunters hackers “may be preparing to escalate their extortion tactics by launching a data leak site” and these “new tactics are likely intended to increase pressure on victims”. So, everyone is being urged to change their passwords immediately.

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A strong password should be at least 12 characters long and use a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special symbols. Avoid using personal information that’s easy to guess or simple patterns. Also, never repeat the same password across different accounts.

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Featured image by: Canva