Nearly 500 Google users in India were warned of phishing attacks by governments— the number is as high as 12,000 worldwide

• Search engine giant Google warned about 12,000 users of phishing attacks by government-backed entities.
• Nearly 500 of those warned were in India.
• Google did not clarify if these attacks were targeted by governments on their own citizens or on foreign citizens.

If you have received a warning from Google about a possible phishing attack, go back and check again. It may be because a government may be trying to hack your password.

Search engine giant Google warned about 12,000 users of phishing attacks by government-backed entities. Nearly 500 of those warned were in India. Google did not clarify if these attacks were targeted by governments on their own citizens or on foreign citizens. If you have received a warning from Google about a possible phishing attack, go back and check again. It may be because a government may be trying to hack your password.

What is phishing attack?

Sometimes you may get a link from an unidentified source that may look familiar. If you end up opening the mail or clicking on the link, it may ask you install a malware (a bad, bad software). If you end up installing it, you system will freeze and the hacker will get access to sensitive user data like login IDs and passwords, credit card numbers etc., which can be later used for unauthorised purchases, stealing of funds, or identify theft.



What is Google saying?

Search engine giant Google warned about 12,000 users of phishing attacks by government-backed entities. Nearly 500 of those warned were in India. Google did not clarify if these attacks were targeted by governments on their own citizens or on foreign citizens.

There are more than 270 government-backed groups from over 50 countries that want to hack into systems to collect intelligence, stealing intellectual property, target dissidents and activists, engage in destructive cyber attacks, or spread coordinated disinformation, according to Google.

Most warnings went to users in US, Canada, Afghanistan, and South Korea.

Why is this significant for India?

This revelation has come just weeks after the Indian government was accused by activists of trying to a spyware from Israel, called Pegasus, to hack into popular chatting app WhatsApp to snoop on journalists and other dissenting citizens. NSO, the company that sells Pegasus, said that it only deals with the governments.



How to protect yourself from Phishing attacks?

A simple way to avoid unauthorised access to your system or email is to have a two-factor authentication. A good example is to have a one-time password sent to your phone before a person can login. Aside from that, it is safer to keep changing passwords from time to time.

If that's not convincing enough, Google has a solution. "We encourage high-risk users — like journalists, human rights activists, and political campaigns — to enroll in our Advanced Protection Program (APP),” the company said in its report.



You will need to purchase two Security Keys in order to enroll into the APP. The price of Security Keys will vary depending on which model you select.

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