Google says it’s disabled the accounts sending out a convincing fake Google Docs invitation in a widespread phishing scam that hit inboxes around the world<\/b>
\nGoogle says it\u2019s disabled the accounts sending out a convincing fake Google Docs invitation in a widespread phishing scam that hit inboxes around the world yesterday.
\u201cWe have taken action to protect users against an email impersonating Google Docs, and have disabled offending accounts, \u201d Google said in an official statement. \u201cWe\u2019 ve removed the fake pages, pushed updates through Safe Browsing, and our abuse team is working to prevent this kind of spoofing from happening again. We encourage users to report phishing emails in Gmail.\u201d
The phishing attempt was extremely convincing as it looked like an invitation that shared a Google Doc from someone in your contact list. In emails received by members of the IT World Canada staff, the filenames referenced were also convincing. Clicking on the invitation led to a real Google account selection screen. After that\u2019s selected, the app called \u201cGoogle Docs\u201d asks for a series of permissions. This is where a savvy user that\u2019s paying attention would see a red flag, since Google Docs doesn\u2019 t require permissions, as it\u2019s native to Google. If the user agrees, the scam is replicated to the user\u2019s contact list.
Affected users should revoke access to the fake Google Docs app and follow-up with any contacts that sent you the phishing email to let them know they\u2019 ve been compromised. The attack would give hackers full access to the contents of your email.
In a statement provided to TNW, Google says it estimates 0.1 per cent of Gmail users were affected. It stopped the phishing campaign within one hour of its launch.<\/p>\n

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