5 million Gmail Passwords Leaked, Google Assures it’s “No Big Deal”
In times when people are still dealing with the news of the massive iCloud hack, they woke up this morning to the news of another giant leak. This time it was Google Accounts turn. Russian hackers have leaked about 4.93 million Gmail passwords. You can access the entire Google ecosystem using just one password and this was seen as a cause of worry.
The account details were leaked on a Bitcoin forum called btcsec.com by a user named Tvskit. The leaker claimed 60% of these accounts were active.
Google immediately slammed the claim. It tried to calm the fears with a blog post that said “We found that less than 2% of the username and password combinations might have worked, and our automated anti-hijacking systems would have blocked many of those login attempts. We’ve protected the affected accounts and have required those users to reset their passwords.”
Gmail accounts are safe http://t.co/lXMXlixy2S but it’s always good to take a minute & check your security settings ? http://t.co/NaR6c1cibE
— A Googler (@google) September 11, 2014
Maybe it’s a way of hackers telling you that it has been a long while since you’ve changed your password, so it’s time that you did. Previously, a Russian Gang had claimed that they had stolen over 1.2 Billion passwords. The solution even then was to change the passwords. It’s a necessary measure that needs to be taken regularly. Google this time asked its users to go for two-step verifications to keep their accounts more secure.
