Chinese hackers are stealing passwords for Gmail users

Intro : in general, it needs to be published as a link, but for some reason it requires more karma than for its article or translation, so the information here, at the end of the post, is a link to the full material.



Subject matter: Google claims that Chinese hackers from Shandong Province hacked a mail service. The attack is suspected technical division of the People’s Liberation Army of China and technical universities, which were previously seen in the attacks on Google.



Attack method: good old phishing.



Google did not directly blame the Chinese authorities, but stated that the hackers were operating from the Chinese city of Jinan, Shandong Province. They were aimed at disclosing personal email passwords for Gmail users.

The company noted that the revealed passwords were obtained as a result of cheating users, and not hacking its security systems.

Chinese political activists and officials in other Asian countries were also targeted by hackers.

"Our company has discovered and frustrated attempts to illegally use passwords and penetrate the mail system," said a Google statement released Wednesday.

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The BBC correspondent in Washington, Adam Brooks, notes that it is almost impossible to determine who is behind these hacking attempts - private individuals or government bodies.

However, the fact that the attacked people had access to classified information indicates the possibility that this is cyber espionage.



More detail here and here .