Google warns its Gmail users
Nation & World
August 28, 2025

Google warns its Gmail users

(TNS) — Google issued an urgent warning this week that many of you should be aware of.

Specifically, any of you who use their Gmail platform.

The Tab reports how Google’s Threat Intelligence Group confirmed this month that hackers from a group known as ShinyHunters — which is a reference to Pokémon “shiny” types — have successfully been getting into users accounts for quite some time.

According to a post published to Google’s blog, the company became a aware of ShinyHunters’s activities in June. One member of the group was able to trick a Google employee into revealing the login details for a system known as Salesforce; thus, ShinyHunters was able to get into business files.

“In addition, we believe threat actors using the ‘ShinyHunters’ brand may be preparing to escalate their extortion tactics by launching a data leak site (DLS),” the blog post reads. “These new tactics are likely intended to increase pressure on victims, including those associated with the recent UNC6040 Salesforce-related data breaches.

“We continue to monitor this actor and will provide updates as appropriate.”

The Tab adds that ShinyHunter members are using this stolen information to impersonate Google workers via bogus phone calls, emails and texts. They are urging victims to reset passwords, prompting the real Google to issue a warning for people to be extra vigilant.

Google confirmed via its blog that it had notified all users about this incident via email as of Aug. 8.

Please note that Google will never call you unprompted. For more information, please visit Google’s guide on how to securely manage your accounts.

The Bradford Era

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