Security News > 2022 > March > Google: Chinese hackers target Gmail users affiliated with US govt

Google's Threat Analysis Group has warned multiple Gmail users that they were targeted in phishing attacks conducted by a Chinese-backed hacking group tracked as APT31.

"In February, we detected an APT31 phishing campaign targeting high profile Gmail users affiliated with the U.S. government," Google Threat Analysis Group's Director Shane Huntley revealed today.

In October, Google TAG security engineer Ajax Bash said the company sent roughly 50,000 alerts of state-sponsored hacking or phishing attempts to customers throughout 2021, 15,000 of them linked to the APT28 threat group part of Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate.

Google sends government-backed attack alerts when detecting attacks launched using infrastructure linked to known government-sponsored threat groups.

The company has warned its users of such attacks starting with 2012 and redesigned the alert system in 2017, revamping it with added info on the potential attack vector.

On Monday, Google TAG also said Russian, Belarusian, and Chinese threat actors targeted Ukrainian and European government and military orgs in widespread phishing campaigns and DDoS attacks.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-chinese-hackers-target-gmail-users-affiliated-with-us-govt/