Verified AI Hack Raises New Gmail Security Alert for 2.5 Billion Users

Although Google has put in place progressively more advanced safeguards to prevent hackers from accessing your Gmail account, hackers are also developing AI-driven assaults. Google estimates that over 2.5 billion people utilize the Gmail service at any given time. That it is such a target for hackers and con artists is understandable. What you should know is as follows. The Most Recent AI-Powered Gmail Attack Is Pretty Awesome Microsoft solutions consultant Sam Mitrovic has cautioned others after nearly falling for a “super realistic AI scam call” that might fool even the most seasoned users. It began a week before Mitrovic became aware of how sophisticated the attack was against him. In a blog post alerting other Gmail users to the potential threat, Mitrovic describes, "I received a notification to approve a Gmail account recovery attempt." One well-known technique used in phishing attacks is the request for confirmation of account recovery or password reset, which leads the victim to a phony login page where they are required to provide their login information in order to report the request as not coming from them. Naturally, Mitrovic was not buying into this and turned off the notification that seemed to be from the United States as well as a missed call that seemed to be from Google in Sydney, Australia, around forty minutes later. Thus far, it seems quite simple and avoidable. Then, almost exactly one week later, the real fun began with another notice request for permission of account recovery, followed forty minutes later by a phone call. This time, Mitrovic didn't miss the call and answered it. An American voice identifying itself as Google assistance verified that the Gmail account had been the subject of questionable behaviour. After I told him no, he inquired as to whether or not he had logged in from Germany, to which I replied in the negative, Mitrovic added. All of this is intended to instill dread in the recipient and trust in the caller. At this point, the phishing plan took a quick and extremely clever turn for the worst. Mitrovic was notified by the alleged Google support agent that an intruder had gained access to his Gmail account for the previous seven days and had taken possession of account information. Mitrovic remembered the missed call and recovery notification from a week prior, so this raised red flags. While he was still talking, Mitrovic Googled the phone number he was being contacted from and found that it did, in fact, connect to Google company pages. This alone is a cunning ploy that will probably trick a lot of gullible customers who are caught up in the moment's fear because it wasn't a Google support number; rather, it was about receiving calls from Google Assistant. "You will be informed at the beginning of the conversation that Google is the caller and why they are calling. The reader is kindly informed by the 100% authentic page that "You can expect the call to come from an automated system or, in some cases, a manual operator."