Googles Gmail UpgradeDo Not Lose Your Account
All change for GmailNurPhoto via Getty ImagesRepublished on January 10 following new headlines into a Google setting that must be changed to keep Gmail inboxes secure.You are not ready for the threat landscape in 2025. None of us are. This new world is one in which attackers can scrape social media and target us with the familiar tone and content from those we know in ways we cant detect. And it can do so on an industrial scale, automatically and instantly, all through AI. There is one thing you can do to secure your account before its too late.Google is advancing its own AI defenses to combat these threats but it cant succeed, not entirely. And while the company says it now detects more than 99.9% of spam, phishing and malware in Gmail blocking unwanted and potentially dangerous messages before they even reached inboxes, much of this relies on what we have seen beforepatterns and trends. This new world changes everything, AI can tweak every email, polish copy, clinically match imagery, and even adapt on the fly.Gmail is the worlds largest email platform, with some 2.5 billion users it says. As such its the worlds biggest email threat. Successfully attack Gmail and you open a world of opportunity. As McAfee warns for 2025, the risks to trust and safety online have never been greater Thats why its more important than ever for consumers to stay informed about these emerging threats.But as sophisticated as these advances might be, to succeed they rely on each of us making a mistake within our own ecosystems. Downloading and opening an attachment, clicking a link, entering information into a malicious website not checking carefully and letting our guards down. And the one mistake we have all already made is being much too casual in providing our personal contact details.MORE FOR YOUSlashNexts 2024 State of Phishing report painted exactly this picture, with an unprecedented surge in attack volume, the research team detected a 202% increase in phishing messages in the second half of 2024, and credential phishing attacks rising 703% in the same period.In practical terms this means every inbox attacked every week, with novel threats coming constantly. Our analysis shows that 80% of malicious links in attacks are previously unknown zero-day threats, demonstrating that traditional threat intelligence and signature-based detection methods are increasingly ineffective against modern, AI-powered attack campaigns.And just as McAfee, Check Point and others now warn, the prospects for 2025 are much worse. We expect this rapid evolution to accelerate, with AI-generated attacks becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect, SlashNext says.The state of the problem has been perfectly illustrated this week in Netskopes latest report, which warns that over the past year, the number of users clicking on phishing links has increased by nearly triple, from 2.9 in 2023 to 8.4 out of every 1,000 users in the average organization clicking on a phishing link each month. This increase comes despite most organizations requiring users to undergo security awareness training to avoid phishing attacks.There are two types of attacks you need to worry about. The first is highly targeted, and will usually hit you at work. This is where the really powerful AI is being deployed, with attackers mapping organizations and conducting sophisticated operations to steal money or data or both. Successful detection requires user training, strict adherence to rules and IT security. But as The Financial TimesNetskope also flags cognitive fatigue as a major factor driving the worsening threat landscape, with users constantly being bombarded with phishing attempts) as well as the the creativity and adaptability of the attackers in delivering harder-to-detect baits. And while Google account credentials are prized, the consistently top target for credential theft is Microsoft. This is understandable given the enterprise honeypots its credentials open and the drag we have seen in MFA compliance cross the ecosystem. Netskope warns that attackers are targeting [both] Microsoft Live and 365 credentials... As a result, the percentage of users clicking on links targeting Microsoft credentials is closer to 75%. Microsofts popularity as a phishing target is unsurprising because Microsoft 365 is the most popular productivity suite by a large margin.Its little surprise, then, that Microsoft is on a mission to to fully eradicate passwords as an entry mechanism into its ecosystem. It has now stated publicly that its intent is not only to push its entire user base (if it can) to passkeys or other hardware-linked login systems, but also to delete the passwords even as a secondary means of account access.The good news for Gmail users if one can put it that way is that attackers are now finding that other means of pushing phishing links have become more effective than email. We have seen this trend coming for some time, not only is it easier to trick a user into clicking a link in a social media message or post, but its also easier to make it seem that the message or post has come from a trusted source is also more likely to be opened on a mobile device, where the small screen makes it much easier to hide the usual telltale signs of a fake message that are more apparent in email.Beyond messaging, the other new trend is compromised search results, either directly targeting search engine optiimization or by pushing out targeted attacks through specialist sites and forums. The top referrer was search engines, Netskope says, where attackers run malicious ads or use SEO poisoning techniques to get the phishing pages listed at the top of the search engine results for specific terms. Other top referrers included shopping, technology, business, and entertainment sites, where the referrals come from comments, malicious ads, and infected sites. The variety of phishing sources illustrates some creative social engineering by attackers. They know their victims may be wary of inbound emails (where they are repeatedly taught not to click on links) but will much more freely click on links in search engine results.I have reported on this SEO poisoning before, and it was a major theme as attacks surged during the holidays season from Black Friday through Cyber Monday and into the end-of-year holiday break.The second type of attack is more hit and hope, but its where AI will have a wider impact. Mass attacks targeting thousands of even hundreds of thousands of addresses at a time will change. Most of the fraudulent or malicious emails hooked by Google or hitting your Gmail inbox still remain detectable. Enhancing the quality and the look and feel of such phishing lures, and even combining them with calls or other messages from seemingly trusted sources will trick millions of users.But outside of work, those attackers need an address to target. Your Gmail addresses will be found on countless lists and in multiple leaks. You can be certain of that. This is why Googles new shielded email addresses are so critical. Expected to come in a 2025 upgrade, these will enable you to stop giving out your real Gmail address to people or companies that ask for them. You can use aliases linking back to your real address, and then switch those off if you find theyre being targeted. Apples similar system is a sure fire way of drastically reducing phishing mails.Gmail didnt get off to a good start on the security and privacy front, but its much better now and its new upgrades make it an account worth keeping. But only if you use the new security upgrades and common sense to ensure you dont lose your Gmail account (and those it leads to) to hackers or simply through lack of use.Last month, I advised Apple users to run a Safety Check on their accounts, available through iPhones Security & Privacy settings. Google users should do the same. This will show you who youre sharing data with, the apps accessing your information, devices linked to your account and which can access your phone.Google says that to protect your Google Account, it strongly recommends using its account security checkup regularly. Its very easy to do so. Just sign into your Google Account, tap or click on your profile picture, and then select recommended actions. The results are even color-coded. Blue for security tips, yellow for important steps and red for urgent ones. A green shield with a check mark means your account is healthy and no immediate action is needed.All that said, its still much easier for an attacker to get hold of your email address than your cell number, and the simplicity of email phishing outplays all other options. The question for 2025 is whether the new optionality provided by AI enhancement changes any of these trends, as attacks land on target more often.And just to keep minds fully focused, the stats are already alarming per StationXs most recent data:Phishing is the single most common form of cyber crime. An estimated 3.4 billion emails a day are sent by cyber criminals, designed to look like they come from trusted senders; this is over a trillion phishing emails per year.Email impersonation accounts for an estimated 1.2% of all email traffic globally.Around 36% of all data breaches involve phishing.3% of employees will click on a malicious link within a phishing email.Remote workers may be more likely to be targeted than office-based employees. 80% of infosec professionals say theyve seen increased security threats since the shift to remote working. 62% said that phishing attacks had increased more than any other type of threat.Google does offer a big red button to better secure your accountits Advanced Protection Program. But just as I advised Apple users, this is not for you unless youre a journalist, activist, or someone else at risk of targeted online attacks. Dont be lulled into opting in, thinking you need the ultimate level of protection if you dont. It will stop many of your devices and services working as youd expect them to.Adhering to Googles critical recommendations around passwords and MFA, the use of passkeys, and safe browsing will go a long way to keeping you safe. But none of that replaces the need to adhere to basic rules. No apps from outside official stores, no links, no attachments, and no sharing your primary email address when shielded email becomes available. You might also consider a new account and address if yours has been around a while and is already a honeypot for spam and phishing.The other thing you must do to ensure you dont lose your account is to keep using it of course. Its a bit obvious, but if you allow accounts to run stale through lack of use, then Google will delete them. If you do have accounts you dont use but want to keep, just make sure you log into them once in a while. Details here but currently the timeline is set at two-years, so little chance of a surprise.Gmail users have been inundated with security headlines through 2024, which while unsurprising given the size of the platforms user base will be a concern nonetheless. And 2025 shows no signs of being a different, even though its barely a week old.The latest security issue to make headlines relates to Check Points recent warning that Google Calendar invites have been maliciously doctored to trick users into clicking where they shouldnt, introducing malware onto their devices.Headlines over the last 24-hours include millions of Gmail users placed on red alert and told to switch on Google setting now and use Gmail you must adjust one setting NOW to avoid scam targeting thousands of Google users.So, whats behind these headlines? Ahead of issuing its report last month, Check Point explained to me that Google Calendar has been exploited in a new phishing campaign targeting 300 brands. Cyber criminals are manipulating Google Calendar to bypass email security and deliver phishing emails that appear legitimate.This is just another example of a devious phishing lure to trick users into clicking, abusing the casual user instinct to click a calendar invite by dressing it up with the familiar look and feel of a known brand. Ultimately, the goal is to plant a threat in your Gmail inbox and have you click it without thinking. While this wasnt specifically an attack on Gmail, the tight Workspace linkage between Google Calendar and Gmail makes this first and foremost a Gmail threat. On that note, the headlines are right.Attackers have modified email sender headers to impersonate legitimate users and employ deceptive links, Check Point told me, tricking victims into disclosing sensitive information [including] Stolen personal and corporate data used for financial scams, such as unauthorized transactions or credit card fraud, leaving victims vulnerable to long-term consequences.Googles advice per Check Point is to enable the known senders setting in Google Calendar. This setting helps defend against this type of phishing by alerting the user when they receive an invitation from someone not in their contact list and/or they have not interacted with from their email address in the past. And its that advice that has prompted the headlines were still seeing now.Check Points other recommended actions in its report are similar to those you should be doing anyway to stay safe from the wider phishing threat:Remain wary of fake event invites. Does the invite have unexpected information on it or request that you complete unusual steps (i.e., CAPTCHA)? If so, avoid engaging.Carefully examine incoming content. Think before you click. Hover over links and then type the URL into Google for the purpose of accessing the website a safer approach than otherwise.Enable two-factor authentication. For Google accounts and other repositories of sensitive information, enable two-factor authentication (2FA). If your credentials are compromised, 2FA can prevent criminals from accessing a given account.Check Point warned in its report that due to Google Calendars popularity and efficiency in everyday tasks, it is no wonder it has become a target for cyber criminals. Cyber security researchers at Check Point, have observed cyber criminal manipulation of dedicated Google tools namely Google Calendar and Google Drawings. Many of the emails appear legitimate because they appear to directly originate from Google Calendar.Last month, I reported on new warnings from the FBI as the email threat landscape worsens. Their advice distills drills down to three key checks for every unsolicited email that hits your inbox before you click or open anything: Check the senders email address; check any URL before you click or certainly before you engage; and check the spelling and grammar of the email itself, as well as the URL.And notwithstanding that the emerging AI threat makes detection of malicious emails through poor spelling and grammar and low quality imagery more difficult, the FBIs advice on keeping your inbox safe hasnt changed:Remember that companies generally dont contact you to ask for your username or password.Dont click on anything in an unsolicited email or text message. Look up the companys phone number on your own (dont use the one a potential scammer is providing), and call the company to ask if the request is legitimate.Carefully examine the email address, URL, and spelling used in any correspondence. Scammers use slight differences to trick your eye and gain your trust.Be careful what you download. Never open an email attachment from someone you dont know and be wary of email attachments forwarded to you.Set up two-factor (or multi-factor) authentication on any account that allows it, and never disable it.Be careful with what information you share online or on social media. By openly sharing things like pet names, schools you attended, family members, and your birthday, you can give a scammer all the information they need to guess your password or answer your security questions.Googles Gmail team provided its own updated advice just ahead of the holidays which is broadly the same, warning that since mid-November, weve seen a massive surge in email traffic compared to previous months, making protecting inboxes an even greater challenge than normal:Slow it down. Scams are often designed to create a sense of urgency, and often use terms like urgent, immediate, deactivate, unauthorized, etc. Take time to ask questions and think it through.Spot check. Do your research to double-check the details of an email. Does what its saying make sense? Can you validate the email address of the sender?Stop! Dont send. No reputable person or agency will ever demand payment or your personal information on the spot.Report it. If you see something suspicious, mark it as spam. Youll be making your Inbox cleaner and helping billions of others too.Gmail is becoming safer and is deploying all the wiles Google can muster to take the fight to the scammers and cybercriminals, blocking more than 99.9% of spam, phishing and malware targeting it platform. But ultimately, too many threats still get through. That 1% if thats the right number is an unimaginable volume of threats making their way onto users phones, tablets, laptops and desktops.All too often, were still seeing blatantly fraudulent emails getting through all those defenses that the platforms have put in place. But a quick check should have been enough to stop them. My personal bugbear is an email pretending to be from a brand, but with an obviously mismatched sender address that should have been stopped.The best way to combat the new threat coming from AI is to deploy AI, and the emerging technology trend to deploy on-device defenses should be the future. This can leverage the new AI processing in the latest upgrades, and while it will take time to be available for all, it should be hinted now.I would like to see the same kind of advances that are coming to malware protection on Android coming to Gmail and other messaging protection as well not relying on central filters or user flags. The behavioral patterns being these attacks will be harder to hide than the form of the threats themselves.Meanwhile, your credentials still remain a firm target for criminals and scammers. And your Gmail address is almost certainly in their possession. Just make sure you dont give anything away and come to regret it later.
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