News Google hit by leak of five million accounts

Or to put it another way, 5 million people accidentally provided their own login details to the scammers.


Edit, it seems that the passwords were those used to log into some websites rather that the gmail password.

So long as people don't use the same password for their email and website logins, then all should be ok.

 

2% of 4.9 million is 98,000

 

Yup. Set up 2 factor authentication too. I have had it for a while. It is a minor inconvenience but it does help to protect my data.

 

And no doubt many will be using those hacked accounts to trade in illegal images, and when Google finds these images in their inbox, the UK rozzers - in their ultimate wisdom (not !) will arrest the original owners and put them all on their little list !

So now, not only can you get into serious trouble if someone SENDS you such an image, you will even if you're email is hacked.

Scotland.... I don't blame you for getting out while the going's good.

 

Why the hell would anyone use Gmail, it's one of, if not the most analyzed emails you can use, I won't say 'spied on' as google make it very clear it's emails are monitored and it's so damn obvious that with Gmail, youtube, google + and what ever else google have linked together, that many people will only bother with one password and with such a large database it's a huge target for hackers, Great idea

 

That is actually interesting are rather proactive of Google if they truely did pull the this and then require the accounts that were actually accesible to change their password.

 

still one of the most secure email thought (if 2FA sms is enabled)

 

One of my emails is listed and the password shown is one I last used 6 years ago. It was also stupidly based on a dictionary word. Since then I've used random passwords and set up 2-factor authentication. At no point have I ever given my details to scammers and the password that was shown by the checker was only ever used on forums. Most likely the 'leak' is simply some old forum databases (probably phpbb) that have been accessed and passwords revealed.

Websites like the checker at http://securityalert.knowem.com/ are doing nothing but spreading an awful lot of FUD by claiming that Gmail was hacked and urging users to change passwords.

Google are, to my knowledge, only triggering password resets on accounts that stil use the same password shown in the leak. If you change your password often then you will probably be safe.

 

I checked, and the leaked password for my account is 5 years old...

 

Where did you get the list of passwords? I also want to check what password of mine were leaked.