Gmail can now alert users of suspicious account activity

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Google has added a new security feature to Gmail that will help protect users by warning them of suspicious account activity. In an example, engineering director Pavni Diwanji explained how his friend's Gmail account was recently compromised by a scammer who attempted to bait money out of the account holder's contacts.

To combat such attacks, Gmail can now detect potentially malicious activity and notify users. The service already shows recent login information below the inbox, but it will now also alert users with a bright red banner and a message that reads, "Warning: we believe your account was last accessed from…" along with the approximate geographic region.

Google says the alert can be triggered if an account is accessed from two different countries within a short time span. You can then view details about the recent activity and access points. If you believe your account has been hijacked, you can change your password from the same window, or simply dismiss the message if it was a false alarm.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38359-gmail-can-now-alert-users-of-suspicious-account-activity.html

 

[raybay]

But in return, you get a more intrusive version of gMail in the upgrade.
... still, it is better than what it was.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

How so? They only seem to be crosschecking IP addresses -- which they collect regardless of the new feature. Intrusive? Maybe. More intrusive? Not really.

"To determine when to display this message, our automated system matches the relevant IP address, logged per the Gmail privacy policy, to a broad geographical location."

 

[TorturedChaos]

I think its actually a rather nice feature, and would even go so far as to ask some more options for it. For example, make the alters even more sensitive, such as alert me even if its signed in from a different state than mine. I don't really travel at all, so if my gmail got signed into from any other state, very slim chance it was me.

 

[9Nails]

One of my ex-coworkers had this happen to his Google account very recently. "He" sent me an email saying that he was on holiday and at some hotel in England and lost his wallet, passport, credit cards, etc. And was asking to borrow money from me. I knew that it was a scam, but I looked up the SMTP headers and the message really did come from his Google account.

I've heard of something similar to this type of money extortion, but from a phone call. Where the person on the other end of the phone calls an elderly person (don't ask me how they know the target is elderly) and cries crocodile tears about needing money. Typically the elderly person says, "is that you _____" which the scammer says, "Yes. Please I went to a friends wedding and I'm stuck and need money, Send it to..."

 

[Puiu]

Something like this is really useful for those who have sensitive information on their accounts. But it's not to lose your account in the first place. If you are careful you can avoid scam really easily. The stupidity of others is still the number one enemy of every admin out there.