Gmail Passwords Leaked: 5 Million Email Addresses Possibly Affected By Hack; ‘No Evidence Our Systems Have Been Compromised’ Says Google

Gmail passwords leaked: A total of 5 million email addresses, together with their passwords, were seen posted on a Russian Bitcoin forum Wednesday, with the manner of how it go to such a public space still unknown.

According to CNN Money, the list appears to be a collection of passwords exposed in previous hacks – likely on users’ own computers and not on Google’s system.

“We have no evidence that our systems have been compromised,” said Google spokeswoman Caroline Matthews, CNN Money reports.

Google also said that leaked list of email addresses may not even be authentic.

Despite its statement, however, the company has locked out users whose passwords were included in the leak. They are now directing them to a site where they can reset their passwords and regain access to their account.

Google is also advising them to take further measures to secure their Gmail accounts, which includes creating stronger passwords and using extra-security layers called two-step authentication.

Forbes reported that a newly created site, IsLeaked.com, popped out and is allowing users to check if their email address was one of the five million that were leaked. Blogger James Watt, however, is warning users that the site maybe a honey pot to collect email addresses. It was created September 8, a day before the list was illegally unveiled.
Like Matthews, Google security team have also assured users that the leak may not be as bad as some people think.

“We found that less than 2% of the username and password combinations might have worked, and our automated anti-hijacking systems would have blocked many of those login attempts. We’ve protected the affected accounts and have required those users to reset their passwords,” the team wrote in a blog post.

Regardless if the leaked passwords would really have an impact or not, Forbes noted that one downside for those users is the issue of spam.

“Downside: those users in the leak will almost certainly end up getting more spam, and may be targeted with phishing attacks.”