My GMail Got Hacked

[Buncha]

On April 20th, around Noon EST, my GMail account was hacked. Looks like it only lasted for about 5 minutes. They sent out 15 spam emails to everyone on my contact list. And then my account was disabled. I just got it reactivated following a verification process.

It was an account I don't use that often, so I didn't notice it until today. But I have used it for business in the past. So if anyone got a bunch of spams from my GMail address, I'm really sorry.

Looks like it's a pretty widespread problem:

Drug-dealing Spammers Hit Gmail Accounts

Google is investigating a growing number of reports that hackers are breaking into legitimate Gmail accounts and then using them to send spam messages.

The problem started about a week ago but seems to have escalated over the past few days.

"The Gmail team takes security very seriously and is investigating the reports we've seen in our user forums over the past few days," Google said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. "We encourage users who suspect their accounts have been compromised to immediately change their passwords and to follow the advice at the following page: http://www.google.com/help/security/."

Gmail accounts are often compromised after phishing attempts or via malicious programs, which can seek out and log online credentials from a hacked computer.

It isn't clear what's behind this wave of Gmail compromises. But in forum posts, Gmail users note that the hackers appear to be sending spam via Gmail's mobile interface -- which gives mobile-phone users a way to check their Gmail accounts -- and wonder if there may be a bug in the mobile interface that is allowing criminals to send the spam.

Most of the victims are reporting that their accounts were accessed via the mobile interface when the spam was sent. They are reporting any security problems on their machines. Gmail users can check to see how their accounts were accessed at a given time by clicking on a "Details" button at the bottom of the Gmail page.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2010...tgmailaccounts

[davion]

I notice that also because of many spams being receive from emails Google is too sensitive with that matter. I have one blog that has been shut down because it is spam? But I don't think it is since it is a corporate blog not an adult blog. Maybe Google is too sensitive with the matter.

[InfoGuy]

Originally Posted by Buncha

They sent out 15 spam emails to everyone on my contact list. [...]

It was an account I don't use that often, so I didn't notice it until today.

You should add a frequently used email addresses to your contact list.

[StrokeKing]

Too bad, i use gmail a lot. since i need that on my blogging activity, and being hacked is the last thing i want to happen on me.

[Cyber]

Sounds not good.

[secretagentwilly]

I sympathize...that shit happened to me on my former gmail account and that's when I learned gmail's customer service is a lot like wal-mart customer service...pretty much non-existent. I was sent a questionaire from gmail that i answered all the questions and then they sent me an email saying they couldn't substantiate me as the owner of the account...long story short, i had to get a new account and now i'm much more cautious and have a crazy password that i can't even remember...i feel your pain...sorry to hear you were victimized at least it worked out for you