Google sent 50,000 warnings to users on government-back hackings

Google has said that so far in 2021, it has sent over 50,000 warnings to those whose accounts were the target of government-backed phishing or malware attempts, a nearly 33 per cent increase from this time in 2020.

The company said that it intentionally sends these warnings in batches to all users who may be at risk, rather than the moment the company detects the threat itself so that attackers cannot track defence strategies.

“On any given day, TAG is tracking more than 270 targeted or government-backed attacker groups from more than 50 countries. This means that there is typically more than one threat actor behind the warnings,” the company said in a blogpost.