Security News > 2021 > October > Google warns 14,000 Gmail users targeted by Russian hackers

Google has warned about 14,000 of its users about being targeted in a state-sponsored phishing campaign from APT28, a threat group that has been linked to Russia.
The campaign was detected in late September and accounts for a larger than usual batch of Government-Backed Attack notifications that Google sends to targeted users every month.
Shane Huntley, who is at the helm of Google's Threat Analysis Group that responds to government-backed hacking, notes that the higher-than-usual number of alerts this month comes from "From a small number of widely targeted campaigns which were blocked."
The campaign from APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, lead to a larger number of warnings for Gmail users across various industries.
In a statement sent by a Google spokesperson, Huntley says that Fancy Bear's phishing campaign accounts for 86% of all the batch warnings delivered this month.
Google's goal with these alerts is to inform individuals that they are being targeted so they can improve defenses.
News URL
Related news
- Hackers Exploit Google Tag Manager to Deploy Credit Card Skimmers on Magento Stores (source)
- Russian military hackers deploy malicious Windows activators in Ukraine (source)
- Microsoft: Russian-Linked Hackers Using 'Device Code Phishing' to Hijack Accounts (source)
- Twin Google flaws allowed researcher to get from YouTube ID to Gmail address in a few easy steps (source)
- Zero-Day Alert: Google Releases Chrome Patch for Exploit Used in Russian Espionage Attacks (source)
- Russian Hackers Exploit CVE-2025-26633 via MSC EvilTwin to Deploy SilentPrism and DarkWisp (source)