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Middle East cyberattacks on Google users increasing

The New York Times reports that tens of thousands of Gmail accounts have been targeted by state-sponsored attacks.

Casey Newton Former Senior Writer
Casey Newton writes about Google for CNET, which he joined in 2012 after covering technology for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is really quite tall.
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Casey Newton

Here we go again.

Three months after it first began warning users of state-sponsored cyber attacks, Google is saying that the assault has only intensified.

The New York Times reports that since it began warning users of state-sponsored attacks, "it has picked up thousands more instances of cyberattacks than it anticipated." Many of the attacks appear to be originating in the Middle East.

Potential victims of the cyberattacks are taken to this Gmail help page.
Potential victims of the cyberattacks are taken to this Gmail help page. Screenshot by Casey Newton/CNET

Starting on Tuesday, the company began inserting a message at the top of affected users' Gmail inboxes: "Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer.

The attacks affect tens of thousands of users, Google information security manager Mike Wiacek told the Times. Many have described seeing the Gmail warning in Twitter posts.

What should you do if you see the message? Changing your password might be a good start. And if you haven't enabled two-factor authentication on your Google account, it's worth considering.