Google is warning the 2.5 billion Gmail users to change their passwords or switch to using passkeys after a surge in phony emails that followed a massive data breach at Salesforce.
All Gmail users should be careful browsing through their emails and should be alert to potentially bogus messages, Google warned. The company said there had been a surgery in effective and convincing phishing attacks targeting Gmail and Google Workspace users.
No passwords were leaked in the Salesforce breach but there was enough customer information to enable tricksters to compose convincing-sounding emails. The emails generally impersonate a company's IT support desk and try to convince users to download malicious software.
Some of the phony emails appear to come from Google itself and use phrases like "suspicious sign-in prevented." In another example, one email said that Google had been served with a subpoena that required it to release information contained in the user's email account.
The message: Don't share any information, including account numbers of passwords with anyone who telephones, emails or texts you. Ignore or delete texts or emails and do not click on any links contained in them. Google will never call you unprompted and neither will most government agencies or corporations. Deal only with people you know and trust.