Google launches advanced Gmail security features for
high-risk users
Send a link to a friend
 [October 17, 2017]
(Reuters) - Alphabet's Google
Inc said on Tuesday that it would roll out an advanced protection
program in order to provide stronger security for some users such as
government officials and journalists who are at a higher risk of being
targeted by hackers.
The internet giant said that users of the program would have their
account security continuously updated to deal with emerging threats.
The company said it would initially provide three defenses against
security threats, which include blocking fraudulent account access and
protection against phishing.
The program would include additional reviews and requests in the account
recovery process to prevent fraudulent access by hackers who try to gain
access by pretending they have been locked out.
The rollout of a suite of new email security services by Google follows
a U.S. presidential election last year that was shaped in part by the
disclosure of emails by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks belonging to
associates of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that were obtained
through phishing schemes.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that those hacks, which
included a breach of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's personal
Gmail account, were carried out by Russia as part of a broader cyber
campaign to help President Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White
House.
[to top of second column] |
The Google logo is pictured atop an office building in Irvine,
California, U.S. August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Picture
"If John Podesta had Advanced Protection last year, the world might be a very
different place," said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for
Democracy and Technology, who was briefed on the new features by Google.
Hall said the new features would grow the amount of high-risk consumers with
strong protections against phishing campaigns, but that they would potentially
create compatibility issues among some who already integrate custom security
tools with their Gmail account.
(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru and Dustin Volz in San Francisco;
Editing by Sunil Nair)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
