Google has warned most of its 2.5 billion Gmail users to update their passwords and strengthen their account security as password hackers have carried out a significant amount of \u201csuccessful intrusions.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is advising users to be on high alert for suspicious activity and add extra security measures, like two-factor authentication, if they have not already.<\/p>\n
Hackers often access Gmail passwords by sending emails with links to fake sign-in pages, or by tricking users into sharing their two-factor authentication codes.<\/p>\n
While most users have strong, unique passwords, only a third regularly update these keys, according to Google data.<\/p>\n
Separately, Google has also advised customers to ramp up their security measures after a\u00a0breach of its own Salesforce database<\/a>.<\/p>\n In June, it warned that bad actors were targeting people through social engineering attacks \u2013 posing as IT support staffers, which was \u201cparticularly effective in tricking employees,\u201d Google said.<\/p>\n This hack largely compromised publicly available data, like contact details for small- and medium-size businesses, but the hacking method could be used for more serious attacks in the future.<\/p>\n