Google catches 'phishing' scam

Google urges users to heighten their security settings after discovering Wednesday that a scam hacked into personal Gmail accounts of U.S. and Asian government officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel and journalists.
 Eric Grosse, Google engineering director, responded to the incident in a Google blog post. He said the attack likely originated in Jinan, China.
 While most schemes are designed to steal identities, Grosse wrote that the latest effort “seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users’ emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples’ forwarding and delegation settings.”
 David Goldman with CNN reported it was a “massive phishing scheme” that was successful in hacking hundreds of personal email accounts.
 Chris Ortman, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, told CNN that the agency was aware of the incident." We are working with Google and our federal partners to review the matter, offer analysis of any malicious activity, and develop solutions to mitigate further risk,” he said.
 But this is not the first time Google has claimed a password-hacking scheme originating from China, according to NPR. Another Gmail attack occurred more than a year ago in which hackers were able to break through Google's security systems.
 Goldman with CNN reported the previous attack eventually led to Google ending its agreement with the Chinese government to censor certain search results, and the company physically moved its servers out of the country. However, the Wednesday attack was not successful in hacking Google’s security systems.
 Grosse wrote in his blog that hackers take advantage of people who aren’t technologically savvy by using malware and phishing scams to trick users into sharing their password. He said Google would ever ask for a users password through an email form.

A massive phishing scam hacked hundreds of personal Gmail accounts,
including those of U.S. and Asian government officials, Chinese political
activists, military personnel and journalists.


 The Huffington Post reported that the U.S. has warned that a large-scale, devastating cyber attack could result in real-world military retaliation, but analysts say it could be difficult to detect its origin with full accuracy.
 Grosse wrote that Google users could improve their security by enabling a two-step verification system, using a stronger password and check your email settings for suspicious forwarding addresses. “Please spend ten minutes today taking steps to improve your online security so that you can experience all that the Internet offers—while also protecting your data.”