Google warned 40,000 times in 2019 about attacks by state hackers

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Google issued 40,000 warnings of a hacking attempt by state hackers last year. That is more than a quarter less often than the year before. In one case, a group of state hackers used five zero days for an attack.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group warns users if suspected state hackers attempt to break into their accounts. In 2019, the company sent out just under 40,000 such alerts. That is almost 25 percent less than in 2018, the TAG writes in a blog post. Google says new technologies help stop such attacks. “Our new safeguards are working,” the company writes. Most state hacker attacks target geopolitical rivals, officials, journalists, dissidents and activists.

Google writes that there have been more attacks last year in which journalists or media were approached. In addition, attackers tried to pose as journalists in order to spread fake news to other journalists. Hackers also sometimes tried to build a relationship with journalists for a longer period of time and then send them a message with an infected attachment. Foreign policy experts were also regularly victims. They would have valuable research that state hackers would like to have.

The TAG writes that one-fifth of the accounts that were phished were attacked multiple times. If a first attack fails, hackers switch to other methods or use different email accounts. Google also says it was able to stop several attacks where hackers used zero days. In one case, it would be a group that used five zero days for a series of attacks. That is a remarkably high number. Those attacks targeted North Koreans, and those who worked on policies around that country. The zero-days were mainly in Internet Explorer, but also in Chrome and Windows.

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