There are plenty of advantages to tech innovations. But who’s to stop them from being misused against tech powerhouses such as Google?
As every available avenue is digitized, the list of pros and cons also keeps increasing.
While the benefits are what we dwell on, the harms should also be given a space on the center stage. Because they can easily undo any functionalities in the blink of an eye, especially ones that have taken years to develop.
Cybercrimes have become all too common.
Even though international and local governments have implemented measures to navigate these reasons, criminals have become too savvy. They have found ways to impersonate brands and then communicate with users, i.e., utilize brand loyalty as a weapon.
The latest targets are Gmail users. Being described as a “sophisticated phishing scam,” cybercriminals are attempting to gain access to Gmail accounts.
One of the users brought this dilemma to the forefront on X. He also attached the following screenshot:
The cybercriminals have found a way to leverage a vulnerability in Google’s infrastructure, which the user claims the tech giant refuses to fix. The first one is the ability to host content on Google’s subdomain and an identical sender email address.
As the user highlights, the email came from a signed and valid email address, also passing the DKIM check. The above email asks him to provide a copy of his Google account content. After the users click the link, it redirects them to a support portal page hosted on a domain with sites.google.com.
Of course, this could be a legitimate site. But the truth is that it wasn’t.
This specific website consisted of a login page similar to Google’s. Imagine how meticulously it’s designed to scam and harvest users’ credentials.
It might not be straightforward, especially given how cybercriminals have become sophisticated due to evolving tech innovations. But it’s always practical to verify the source of suspicious emails.
To a critical extent, this could save users from fraud, identity theft, and significant harm.