‘We want to reassure that…’: Google on ‘Gmail security warning' for 2.5 billion users

Google has addressed several recent reports which claimed it sent out a widespread security notification about Gmail to 2.5 billion users, calling them “entirely false”. The company hinted that this may have been an attempt by hackers to ‘infiltrate inboxes’.“We want to reassure our users that Gmail’s protections are strong and effective. Several inaccurate claims surfaced recently that incorrectly stated that we issued a broad warning to all

Gmail users

about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false,” the company said in a blog post, announcing, “Gmail's protections are strong and effective, and claims of a major

Gmail security warning

are false.”“While it’s always the case that phishers are looking for ways to infiltrate inboxes, our protections continue to block more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts from reaching users,” it added.

What the reports said about Gmail security notification

Last week, multiple reports claimed that Google issued a critical security alert impacting its 2.5 billion Gmail users worldwide. This warning, one of the largest in recent years, comes after a report by cybersecurity firm Trend Micro said that following a comprehensive analysis of the breach, Google began notifying affected users on August 8. “Security is such an important item for all companies, all customers, all users — we take this work incredibly seriously. Our teams invest heavily, innovate constantly, and communicate clearly about the risks and protections we have in place. It’s crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual,” Google added.The tech giant has encouraged users to use a secure password alternative like Passkeys “and to follow these best practices to spot and report phishing attacks.”Users can also enable

Two-Factor Authentication

(2FA) as it adds an essential extra layer of security, which means that even if hackers obtain your password, they won't be able to access your account without a secondary verification code.