A recent headline claiming that “2.5 billion Gmail users should change passwords immediately” has been making the rounds online. But what’s the real story?
Not so fast, however. While Google and Gmail are often targeted by scammers, claims of an emergency alert are “entirely false,” the tech giant said, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
In June, cyber criminals known as Shiny Hunters successfully breached Google’s Salesforce database that stores and manages customer data for small and medium-sized businesses. According to Google, the breach did not compromise other products, such as Gmail or Google Drive, and no passwords or financial data were exposed.
That hasn’t stopped multiple reports claiming all Gmail users should change their passwords immediately as a result of the hack. Adding to the concern are reports that scammers are contacting Gmail users in an attempt to get them to change their passwords. In these cases, scammers are using news of the Google hack to trick people into thinking their accounts are compromised and they should change their password over the phone or using a link that’s sent to them.
The new password is then obtained by the cyber criminal who can take control of your account.
Google routinely advises people to change passwords and be vigilant about accounts but recent reports of an immediate threat are false.
Here’s the complete Sept. 1 statement from Google:
Gmail’s protections are strong and effective, and claims of a major Gmail security warning are false.
“We want to reassure our users that Gmail’s protections are strong and effective. Several inaccurate claims surfaced recently that incorrectly stated that we issued a broad warning to all Gmail users about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false.
While it’s always the case that phishers are looking for ways to infiltrate inboxes, our protections continue to block more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts from reaching users.Security is such an important item for all companies, all customers, all users — we take this work incredibly seriously. Our teams invest heavily, innovate constantly, and communicate clearly about the risks and protections we have in place. It’s crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual.
