State-sponsored Cyber Attacks on Google Gmail Accounts of US Senators

Google, the internet juggernaut from Washington has warned all US Senators that some state-funded actors are trying to hack into their Gmail accounts in order to steal vital secrets. The information came into light when The Associated Press (AP) revealed this news to the world.

The news post of AP says that Sen Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon sent a letter on Wednesday to the Senate on this issue. Later Google made an official statement that some of the senators Gmail accounts were at a risk of being hacked by some state-sponsored hackers.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft made it official that it blocked some Russian cyber attacks on US Senators from Democratic National Committee (DNC) and think tanks ahead of the November’s 2018 midterm elections in the United States.

The Satya Nadella led company said that its Digital Crimes Unit(DCU) succeeded in taking down six malicious websites which were meant to trick politicians, think tanks and election probables.

Later, the DNC released a press statement saying the attempted cyber attack by Russia on Democrat party leaders was fake. And it was just a simulated phishing test attempted by white hat security analysts hired by Michigan Democratic Party.

Perhaps, the latest security alert issued by Google could possibly be a misunderstood fact.

Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc’s Chairman Eric Schmidt predicts that the internet will split into two by 2028- as one part will be led by China and the other by someone from the West. His latest statement reflects Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai’s thoughts of running a separate search engine for Chinese Populace which might result in China becoming a leader in the search engine business of Asia.

In other news leaked by Wall Street Journal, Google is facing allegations that it has alerted search results to direct users to pro-immigration organizations as soon as President Donald Trump imposed a travel ban against those traveling from Muslim Countries.

However, Google stated the news as fake and added that it never manipulates its search results or modifies its products accordingly to promote a person’s political ideology.

Some insights of Cybersecurity Insiders- Well, we do not know what happens behind the screens and in the server farms of Google. The company claims that it does respect the privacy of all its users who use its products and services such as search engine and Android Operating systems.

But at the same time, some security analysts have revealed the fact that Google keeps a track of anything and everything its users do via its products and services. For instance, the web search giant has been found guilty multiple times while playing with the data security and privacy concerns of its users.

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Naveen Goud
Naveen Goud is a writer at Cybersecurity Insiders covering topics such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Startups, Cyber Attacks, Cloud Security and Mobile Security

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