After details of close to five million accounts on Gmail were found to be leaked on the internet, Google has attempted to reassure users by insisting that most of the information released would be useless to anyone trying to access their emails.
A member of a forum on Bitcoin Security posted the user details, causing a stir in the process, and the abuse and spam team at Google reacted quickly by addressing the leak on its blog.
The internet giant admitted to identifying a number of lists that claim to include Google credentials, along with other online account details. However, after investigating the incident, the Californian company discovered that only a small portion (under two per cent) of the leaked login details may have been effective for attackers.
Google, as a security measure, asked users whose accounts have been affected to change their passwords. However, it seemed that the majority of the leaked passwords were either no longer in use or not compatible with the corresponding email addresses.
The post stated:
“Often, these credentials are obtained through a combination of other sources. For instance, if you reuse the same username and password across websites, and one of those websites gets hacked, your credentials could be used to log into the others.”
Google appears to have escaped the leak but many companies are vulnerable to breaches and need to take all necessary precautions to ensure that their data is protected. The most logical way for them to achieve that is to post cyber security jobs and have personnel on board who know how to ensure that sensitive information remains as secure as possible.
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