Last week, several outlets claimed that Google alerted 2.5 billion Gmail account holders after a successful hacking attempt.
Google said its security systems block over 99.9 percent of phishing and malware attempts
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa
Google, on Monday, debunked last week's claims of a widespread data breach on Gmail, stating that it had not sent any warnings to users. Last week, several outlets reported that the Mountain View-based tech giant's email platform suffered a “successful intrusion” from a hacker group, which put as many as 2.5 billion users' data in jeopardy. The reports also claimed that following the incident, the company sent alerts to these users asking them to reset their passwords and secure their accounts. The tech giant now refuted all of these claims.
In a blog post, the tech giant addressed the reports that claimed the company had suffered a data breach. Google said, “We want to reassure our users that Gmail's protections are strong and effective. Several inaccurate claims have surfaced recently, incorrectly stating that we issued a broad warning to all Gmail users about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false.”
A representative of the company also reached out to Gadgets 360 with Google's statement. Notably, last week's reports claimed that the data breach occurred as a result of compromised Open Authorisation (OAuth) tokens. It also claimed that Gmail asked users to remain alert for any suspicious activity.
In its blog post, Gmail highlighted that while threat actors are always trying to infiltrate the platform, its protective systems are strong enough to block more than 99.9 percent of “phishing and malware attempts from reaching users.”
The company also added that since security remains a key area for the company, “it's crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual.” Suggesting best practices for additional protection, Gmail advises users to use a secure password and consider using Passkeys as an alternative security measure.
Notably, in a separate blog post, the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) identified an attack on Salesforce's data, where the threat actor was recognised as UNC6395. Several outlets used this information to claim that the same hacker group was also involved in the Gmail data breach, which has now been confirmed to be false.
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