Gmail Hack Attack — Google Says You Have 7 Days To Act

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Google says you have 7 days to recover your hacked Gmail account.
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Gmail is under attack. That phrase should send shivers down your spine if you are one of the more than 3 billion people who use the world’s most popular email platform. The latest in a long line of threat campaigns is particularly dangerous in that it appears to come from Google itself. But with threat actors continually changing-up their attack methodologies, becoming increasingly more sophisticated thanks to the use of AI, and even employing automatic password hacking machines in their attacks, the danger to your email account and the data it unlocks continues to mount. Google is, of course, fighting back with upgraded security protections but the danger continues. If you fall victim to the latest Gmail hack attack, or any other that locks you out of your Google account, Google has said that you have seven days to get it back. Here’s what you need to know and do.

You Have Seven Days To Recover Your Account After A Gmail Hack Attack

The latest Gmail hack attack involves a sophisticated phishing campaign that employs the use of an OAuth application and what has been described as a “creative DomainKeys Identified Mail workaround” to fool victims into thinking a security alert email originated from Google itself. In other words, it has managed to bypass the exact protections that Google has put in place to help prevent such attacks in the first place. The good news is that Google has confirmed it is putting out updated protections that counter the threat methodology used in this attack. “These protections will soon be fully deployed,” a spokesperson said, “which will shut down this avenue for abuse.”

A Google spokesperson has also told me that anyone who finds themselves locked out of their Gmail account following a successful attack, where the hacker has changed their account password and recovery methods, still has seven days in which they can undo the damage and regain access to that hacked account.

Gmail Hack Account Recovery

Gmail spokesperson Ross Richendrfer told me that in those situations where an attacker has compromised a Google account and changed the password, or even added a passkey, to prevent the legitimate owner from being able to access it, acting quickly is the key to successful recovery. Obviously, using “phishing-resistant authentication technologies, such as security keys or passkeys,” in the first place, as Richendrfer advised, is highly recommended to prevent finding yourself in this situation in the first place. But if you do, then all hope is not lost.

“We recommend all users to set up a recovery phone as well as a recovery email on their account,” Richendrfer said, “these can be used in cases where users forget their own passwords, or an attacker changes the credentials after hijacking the account.” As the original account holder, following a Gmail hack, even if the attacker has changed your recovery telephone number, Richendrfer advised that you have 7 days in which that number can still be used to regain control of, and access to, your Gmail account. The same applies to your recovery email. “When you change your recovery email,” Richendrfer said, “you may be able to choose to get sign-in codes sent to your previous recovery email for one week.”

To add or change a recovery phone number or email on Android, open your device settings app, hit Google, followed by your name, and the Manage your Google account option. Now head for the security section, where it says “how you sign into Google,” and you can select options for a recovery phone or recovery email. You will likely be asked to sign in before getting any further, but the selection process is very straightforward and takes no time at all. You can find more details on recovering a Google account following a successful Gmail hack here.

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