A sophisticated phishing scam is hitting Gmail users personal and business accounts, and spreading at an alarming rate.
The hack gets to your computer via an email, which looks like it comes from someone you know. The email itself contains a link to a Google Document, which when clicked will give the hacker access to your Gmail account - and by extension, anything that is connected to that account.
News outlets suggest that your account is then used to spread the scam further, sending the email to everyone in your contacts list. Your contacts will then receive the phishing email from your email account. As a result, we suspect the phishing email has been fairly successful.
The best way to check that an email containing a Google Doc link is legitimate is to hover over the 'addressed to' field in the email. This should be your email address, but the phishing email is addressed to hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh@mailinator.com. Currently, there are no other indicators that the email contains malware.
We advise that you only click on links to Google Docs that you are certain of; and if in doubt, delete the email and contact the sender directly by phone. If you believe you have clicked a malicious link or your account has been compromised, change your password and contact your IT support team immediately.
Check out an image and gif of the phishing email here:
@zeynep Just got this as well. Super sophisticated. pic.twitter.com/l6c1ljSFIX
— Zach Latta (@zachlatta) May 3, 2017
If you're worried about your Gmail account, contact us at 0191 482 0444
