Skip to main content

Google Admits to a Security Flaw Affecting 1.5 Billion of Users

 Google has finally admitted to vulnerability that has security repercussions for nearly 1.5 billion of its users. This security flaw was brought to the notice of Google two years ago by researchers at Black Hills Information Security. These researchers had claimed that vulnerability in Google Calendar app was enough for hackers to allow hackers to steal information from he computers of users of Gmail around the country. It is only now that Gmail support number is acknowledging the existence of this security flaw.

Google did not take any steps to fix this security flaw back in 2017 as it would have resulted in drop in functionality for the users of its Google Calendar app. This was despite the fact that these researchers demonstrated how this vulnerability could be exploited as a weapon by hackers to steal information from the computers of users of Gmail. At that time, Google said that its policy was to prevent spread of malicious content on the services offered by the company. But it is only now after 2 years that Google is taking concrete action on this security problem affecting billions of its users.

Google Calendar is an app that can be used by anyone to schedule a meeting with anyone else using Gmail. Google has built seamless integration with Google Calendar. Taking advantage of this integration, a hacker can send calendar invitation to another individual. He gets a notification that pops up on his mobile phone. Sender can easily include a malicious link in his message which could be anything from a poll providing financial incentive or an online poll with the participant required to provide his bank or credit card details. This security flaw opens up endless possibilities of phishing and social engineering attacks. If you are still unaware of how these attacks work, you can contact Gmail support number to learn more about them.

Now, 2 years later, Google has finally acknowledged that it is aware of the spam taking place in Google Calendar. It has also confirmed that the company is working diligently to resolve the security flaw. It is clear to everyone that close linking of Gmail and Google Calendar by Google inadvertently created a space for people with malicious intentions. Anyone can send a Calendar invitation to another person whether he knows him or not provided both are users of Gmail.

If anyone tries to take advantage of this vulnerability, he can easily send a fake invitation to another individual which would be likely to be clicked by innocent and gullible users.

As Google is yet to take any measure to prevent this possibility of phishing, you are still vulnerable to attacks from hackers. It is prudent for you to contact any reliable Gmail support service to learn a method to keep such Google Calendar invites at bay. The most basic method is to go to Calendar settings and then Event Settings. Now click on Automatically Add Invitations and choose the option of No to make sure you never get such calendar invitations.

more information: aim mail

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At&t Tries Hard to Prevent T-mobile From Surging Ahead in 5g

 AT&T is undoubtedly a giant in the telecom sector around the country. The company made every effort in the last few weeks to tip the scales in its favor in its fight with T-Mobile in the field of 5G services. T-Mobile was the first out of the blocks in 5G and it must have hurt the ego of the company of the stature of AT&T. The best way to thwart the growth story of T-Mobile was to prevent it from amassing mid-band spectrum.  AT&T Mail support  has decided to flex its regulatory muscle to stop T-Mobile from surging ahead of it in the 5G race. AT&T filed a petition with FCC in September 2021 saying it should not allow any single player to amass more than one-third of the total spectrum in a given marketplace. Mid band spectrum which lies in the range of 2.5-6 GHz is considered ideal for use in 5-G technology. As T-Mobile has recently taken over Sprint, it allows the company to bid for a big chunk of the mid-band spectrum on auction by the government. If o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Google Meet Vs. Zoom: Which One is a Better Option?

 Google Meet and Zoom are two of the most popular video conferencing apps available today. In a time when Covid-19 pandemic has forced employees and students inside their homes, these two apps are proving invaluable in attending online classes and business conferences. It becomes confusing for many people to choose between these two wonderful apps. This article aims to throw light on the pros and cons of both these apps (free versions) to let you choose the app that better suits your requirements.   Limitation on meet timing At present, Google Meet has a huge meet time limit of 24 hours though they are planning to cut it short to just 1 hour from 1 st  of October. If you are thinking of using Zoom, you will be disappointed to know that it allows a meet time of 40 minutes. This means if your sessions are going to be long, you would need to stop and start a new session which could be very irritating.  Number of participants  You can choose either of the two vid...
Post a Comment
Read more

Windows 10 Update Blocked for Some Avg Antivirus Users

 AVG is a trusted name in the world of antivirus products. Hundreds of thousands of men and women install one or the other version of AVG antivirus in their computers to remain absolutely safe and secure from all kinds of online threats. Another interesting fact about these users is that a vast majority of them happen to be users of Windows 10 devices. A large number of these users were recently shocked to see that their attempts to update their operating systems were blocked by the company. Many of these users got no clarification when they tried to contact  AVG customer care . It was in the beginning of November that Microsoft announced a new update for its latest operating system Windows 10. This update, called version 1909, or simply Windows 10 November 2019 Update, attempted to introduce some important new features to the operating system installed in computers of thousands of individuals and businesses around the country. Unfortunately, many AVG antivirus users have bee...
Post a Comment
Read more