Hackers Can Steal Data Without a Trace
Hackers have exploited Gmail’s sender verification system. In June, a cybersecurity engineer alerted Google to the potential problem, but Google denied any such flaw. In his persistence, the engineer kept at them, and Google finally recognized the security issue in Gmail.
The Google Cybersecurity Flaw
Cybersecurity engineer Chris Plummer claims scammers have found a way to convince Gmail that their fake brands are legitimate, “The sender found a way to dupe @gmail ’s authoritative stamp of approval, which end users are going to trust,” explains Plummer. “This message went from a Facebook account to a UK netblock, to O365, to me. Nothing about this is legit.”
What Exactly Does This Security Flaw Affect?
Debugger Jonathan Rudenberg revealed that he replicated the hack. Because Gmai’s MIMI only needs SPF to match, the DKIM signature can come from any domain. What does this mean? Any shared or misconfigured email server can be a conduit for sending spoofed emails with the full Gmail check. This Gmail security flaw enables high-powered phishing based on a single misconfiguration.
Google Drive Security Issues
That’s not the only flaw as of late with Google. Google Drive was affected by a security flaw, too. Google says, “The update to Drive takes extra precaution by ensuring that newly shared documents with hyperlinks to third-party HTTPS websites will not inadvertently relay the original document’s URL. In this specific instance, if a user clicked on the embedded hyperlink, the administrator of that third-party site could potentially receive header information that may have allowed them to see the URL of the original document linked to their site.” When it comes to keeping docs safe, Google recommends you make a copy of the doc and share it, then delete the original document so the third party does not gain access to the original URL.
Did Gmail Fix The Flaw?
The scammers that used the SPF flaw did so under the guise of UPS, but no malicious payload was included in the seemingly legit emails. Google has since fixed said security flaw in Gmail,
“To keep users safe, we are requiring senders to use the more robust DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication standard to qualify for Brand Indicators for Message Identification (blue checkmark) status.”
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