Google is alerting some journalists and their email accounts when they might be targeted by “government-backed” hackers, according to a new report.
“Since 2012, we’ve notified users when we believe their Google accounts are being targeted by government-backed attackers,” a Google spokesperson told Politico in a report published Friday. “We send these warnings out of an abundance of caution — they do not indicate that a user’s account has already been compromised or that a more widespread attack is occurring when they receive the notice.”
Several journalists, including liberal commentator Keith Olbermann, claim to have received alerts from Google about the potential hacks.
Julia Ioffe, a writer at the Atlantic, posted an image on Twitter of the Google warning she said she received in late January.
“Warning: Google may have detected government-backed attackers trying to steal your password,” the warning said.
U.S. intelligence officials concluded that the Russian government was likely involved in cyberhacks on the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee in an attempt to influence the election.
