State-sponsored cyber warfare is becoming an increasingly real concept and at the forefront of this concept are U.S. and Israel, who may provide other nations a sufficient reasons to indulge in similar cyber wars. Perhaps as a result of numerous state-sponsored cyber attacks having being unveiled, Google has now shored up the security of Google accounts.
Interestingly, the upped security also includes that in case a state-sponsored cyber-attacker hacks or tries to hack a user’s account, Google will display the following notification to the user: “Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer.”
Along side this message, Google will also provide the user with a ‘protect yourself now’ link which will help the user shore up the security of his account through a better password, two-step authentication and other similar measures.
According to Google’s security engineering VP, “We believe it is our duty to be proactive in notifying users about attacks or potential attacks so that they can take action to protect their information. And we will continue to update these notifications based on the latest information.”
Nonetheless, Google is quick enough to state, in the same breath, that none of its machines or systems have been compromised and rather that it is trying to help users secure their end. We are curious, however, that how will Google manage to identify state-sponsored hackers from regular hackers.
To this, the Google answers, ““You might ask how we know this activity is state-sponsored. We can’t go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors, but our detailed analysis—as well as victim reports—strongly suggest the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored.”
Source: Google Online Security Blog
Courtesy: Forbes
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