Chinese Gmail Attack Targets 'Senior' U.S. Officials

Google revealed the suspected source of a hacking attack on Gmail accounts: users originating in China.

Eric Grosse, engineering director on the Google Security Team, said in a blog post Wednesday that specific user account credentials were targeted.

Targets included government officials from the U.S. and "several Asian countries" as well as political activists, journalists, and military personnel, Google said.

"The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' e-mails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples' forwarding and delegation settings,"

"It's important to stress that our internal systems have not been affected--these account hijackings were not the result of a security problem with Gmail itself. But we believe that being open about these security issues helps users better protect their information online," Grosse continued.

Google says it's notified those with affected accounts and has also secured the accounts. The company is encouraging users to add extra layers of security including designing more complex passwords, turning on two-step account verification, and only going through the company's secured "https://www.google.com" domain when logging on from a Web browser.

Google's blog post notes that "internal systems have not been affected—these account hijackings were not the result of a security problem with Gmail itself."

Related articles

• Google says "hundreds" of Gmail accounts hijacked (marketwatch.com)
• Google: Chinese attackers monitoring Gmail of activists, journalists, officials (arstechnica.com)
• Chinese Hackers Targeted U.S. Officials in Gmail Phishing Attack (mashable.com)
• Google: Gmail Attack from China Affects 'Senior U.S. Government Officials' (techland.time.com)
• Gmail Hit by Phishing Hack (money.cnn.com)