back to article Google to offer cyberwar defence advice to Gmail users

Google is to warn Gmail customers if it thinks they’re being targeted by “suspected state-sponsored attacks”. The warning, “We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your computer”, is intended to spur users to take immediate measures to secure their account, Eric Grosse, Google’s security …

COMMENTS

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  1. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Thumb Down

    So I will

    with Grosse writing that “we can’t go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful [to the] bad actors”.

    He's saying his software is crap and you are too unimportant to waste time on. Make no mistake, the "bad actors" are Eric Schmidt's 'privacy is dead' devil spawn.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Cyberwar

      War?

      Rather dramatic statements coming out at the moment, the paranoid will be really worried about the enemy reading their emails fro Grandpa and Grandma in case their recipes for malt loaf falls into the wrong hands.

      1. Gannon (J.) Dick
        Trollface

        Re: Cyberwar

        Paranoia can be controlled with drugs. Magic, not so much. What Google is doing is making at least a generation of CS Grads into mercenaries for hire as Microsoft did for the last and IBM for the penultimate. At least Alchemy required rocks and lab equipment.

    2. Arfur Smiff

      Re: So I will

      “we can’t go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful [to the] bad actors”.

      Oh thats a shame, I guess Tom Cruise misses out again.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Of course, it will only apply to certain states...

    other states will be exempt.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Of course, it will only apply to certain states...

      Go on. Name your suspicions. I dare ya!

      Chicken!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Of course, it will only apply to certain states...

        exempted from the Google warning to activists will surely include at least the following: Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Georgia (Sakartvelo), Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, EU-27, Myanmar... infact anywhere where the surveillance state cooperates with UKUSA/5-eyes.

        there are 'repressive regime' surveillance states and there are 'currently democratic' regime surveillance states; I really don't think civil society has the tools to keep these categories from merging in the near term.

        for fsck's sake, the internet isn't inherently liberating and freedom seeking activists will get killed if they believe there are any 'privacy enhancing tools' around which aren't 'workfactor reduction improved'

        IPv6 Day = I identify myself with every packet day

  3. toadwarrior

    Unless that state is the US then they'll quitely give them anything they want.

  4. dotdavid
    Black Helicopters

    Option 4

    "El Reg anticipates three possible user responses to the warning:"

    "Whassat? State sponsored?! Dat darn gummnit spyin' on my e-lectronic mail, is it? Son, fetch mah shotgun - ain't no Feds gonna be stealin' mah billions o'dollars from that there Nigerian prince"

  5. Don Jefe
    Meh

    Outright Terror

    The truly terrifying part is that 'customer' bit. Any agency or business that is using Gmail for primary electronic comms is already about 500m beyond secure or private so they are kind of asking for it.

    I really don't want the Oompa Loompas from the Googleplex to be my admin anyway.

    Free Gmail users won't be warned though. Which is fine I guess, it's all cats and pictures of their fat girlfriends anyway and the Chinese can have those if they really want.

  6. ukgnome
    Trollface

    Damn and blast

    all my groupon secrets could be there's.

  7. h4rm0ny

    Signed and encypted?

    We wont have decent email security until encrypted emails become standard. And given that their business model is based on reading your emails to generate ad information, I don't see Google leading the field in that area.

    Not that Microsoft are particularly in my good books on that front either as last week I discovered their billing support system automatically bins any emails that are digitally signed without warning. They just vanish somewhere never to be seen again.

    Poor show all round, really.

  8. tonyoung
    FAIL

    Two step

    I've had to discontinue use of the two-step verification. I have two laptops, a tablet and two Android phones and often use public internet connections or my partner's laptop.

    Having this weekend bought a new laptop, just trying to set up the Google Account encryption via the application-specific password-thingy was a nightmare of 'circular references' - or going around the roundabout as we used to say.

    The whole thing is just too bl**dy complicated! I don't think the Chinese will be very interested in my emails, anyway.

    1. Don Jefe
      Meh

      Re: Two step

      Unless you are a terribly important exec who wants to be anynomous I'm just going to call you out & say you're full of shit. Spend less on your hardware & get a card. It is cheaper.

  9. Crazy Operations Guy
    Stop

    Just not use Google's mail services then

    If Google is saying that their users are being targeted then the simple answer is to go somewhere else.

    My opinion has always been that if your company is too incompetent to run your own e-mail servers, then I have no desire to do business with you. Google has admitted time and again that their servers have been compromised, so why would you trust them with your customer's data?

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