2.5 billion Gmail accounts exposed as massive hack uncovered

A Guy · Aug 25, 2025

I think the new story is because there are active scams using the data

A Guy

bikemanAMD · Aug 25, 2025

Updated My Gmail password and passwords on other accounts after seeing this news

Gonna update one other account in a few minutes here

Sometimes updating Account passwords still sorta a pain even with Roboform Password Manager lol, then again sorta less than a pain, except when new Password doesn't work after changing it, and figuring it would work, and so updated Roboform Lol. But i'll just do Password Reset in a bit, once i get the account email to work right as well lol. But i will get it sorted asap here lol

Marcus Vinicus · Aug 25, 2025

Not affected by this. I've had 2FA enabled on my Google account for 5 years. I changed my Google account password last month when I did full reinstall of Windows 11. My Google pw is very long and convoluted and generated/managed by Dashlane. Principle 2FA is via my new Samsung phone.

OldMainframeGuy · Aug 25, 2025

I have to admit that given the ubiquitousness of Gmail I'm not going to panic if the first I've heard of a breach of 2.5 billion Gmail accounts is on this forum. I've been using Gmail 2FA for a long time and according to the article, passwords weren't breached so I'm not going to lose sleep over this. I'll file this with the recent Windows patch that bricks SSDs.

Hazel123 · Aug 25, 2025

It says no passwords were taken so sounds like maybe lots of phishing emails - but if they have location and phone number from a google account, could be phishing texts and fake calls as well.

I am already inundated with all that since M&S got hacked! I now get masses of junk mail, texts and AI phone calls about jobs, NHS prescriptions and all sorts. Thankfully my junk mail filter sorts most of them (not gmail, outlook email). The phone calls are a pain.

William654 · Aug 25, 2025

Hazel123 said:
The phone calls are a pain

In android there are apps that warn about scam calls, I also report the scam number

A Guy · Aug 26, 2025

Our favorite comment came from the same Redditor who posted about the Google scammer: “The best thing I’ve read regarding these attempts is ‘Google will NEVER call you out of the blue. They don’t care about your account'” they said. Snarky, but likely true. “Be highly suspicious and never give anyone a code or password and never accept those recovery prompts unless you are 10000% certain YOU issued them.”

How to spot the latest fake Gmail security alerts

Fake Gmail security alerts are tricking users into inadvertently handing over control of their accounts to scammers. Here's what to look for.

www.malwarebytes.com

A Guy

jimbo45 · Aug 26, 2025

2.5 billion accounts hacked -- well that means there's a 1 in 2.5 billion chance that your email data will be used -- almost vanishingly short odds -- most of people who post that sort of security news rubbish (probably mostly on reddit -- the most useless site since Gartner) fortunately don't understand statistics and assume the entire planet has all their email stuff in bog standard Latin characters in English. In any case I couldn't care a €0.01 if people want to read my emails -- they'd be bored to tears in 5 mins even if they could understand them.

I see malwarebytes.com giving "advice" -- well it would - its reason for existence has largely gone for domestic consumers anyway with latest versions of Windows and WD. It's a bit like BP or Total telling people that Gas (UK Petrol) and Diesel cars are still the future or MacDonalds saying Fresh fruit and veg are bad for you - eat our Big macs instead.

In any case if still paranoid just open another gmail account, delete the other one and of course regularly change passwords.

Cheers
jimbo

Kees · Aug 26, 2025

William654 said:
I also report the scam number

In my country (and I think all over Europe) many fake/scam phonecalls are coming from spoofed numbers. For instance they call you spoofing that the number shown is from your bank, warning you that your bankaccount is hacked and advising that you should transfer your money to a certain bankaccount (from which you will never get it back). Or they spoof to be someone you know, if you have publiced some details in social media. In this way already many millions of Euros were lost by some (mostly older) people!

So reporting those numbers would be totally useless, you only would penalise the wrong people! And next time they use another number.

pseymour · Aug 26, 2025

Some advice from the Googs and Amazon about identifying account scams…

https://guidebooks.google.com/onlin...ked/verify-security-alert?hl=en-US&country=US

Identifying a scam - Amazon Customer Service

Learn to identify, prevent, and report scams.

www.amazon.com

Kees · Aug 26, 2025

@pseymour
This link...

https://guidebooks.google.com/online-security/account-hacked/verify-security-alert

brought me this result:

...

pseymour · Aug 26, 2025

They both work for me. Is it redirecting you to a Netherlands site or something?

Marcus Vinicus · Aug 26, 2025

Tried that Google Guidebooks url in Edge and Chrome and got the same 404 error.

pseymour · Aug 26, 2025

When I switched it to Netherlands, the content wasn't there. The language selector says not all content is available in every language. I changed the URL to specifically load the English version.

echo2446 · Sep 3, 2025

Google says Gmail breach reports are false, stresses protections remain strong

Google has moved swiftly to refute widespread claims suggesting a critical security flaw in Gmail, stressing that its email protections remain robust and effective. In a direct...

www.techspot.com

Here's what Google says to such a careless security news report (emphasis added):

Google is urging fact-based reporting after misleading headlines about a Gmail breach left 2.5 billion users concerned, emphasizing that clear communication is essential to maintaining public trust. The company warns that misinformation in the cybersecurity community and media can distort the understanding of security incidents and their genuine impact.

hader · Sep 4, 2025

echo2446 said:
Here's what Google says to such a careless security news report (emphasis added); Google is urging fact-based reporting after misleading headlines about a Gmail breach left 2.5 billion users concerned, emphasizing that clear communication is essential to maintaining public trust. The company warns that misinformation in the cybersecurity community and media can distort the understanding of security incidents and their genuine impact.

This is the most concerning part. Is it true or not? Are there accounts affected? There is much at stake here. Money.... Shareholders. Reputation. Google is not a small company. They employ many workers that are not stupid. Security is a big thing nowhere days. Break-ins. They occur on a daily basis without our knowledge. Stealing information. They say public trust. Yes I know what they mean. They just keep saying that "our products are safe" But it is a commercial company. They also have to earn money. They harvest a lot of information of us that they selling to company's that are advertising stuff. This is old news. Microsoft does the same so what's new? Don't like it? Disconnect yourself from the internet or use an other OS.

I must agree with Google. They are not stupid also. Misinformation in cyberspace is a real concern. What's real or not.... That what this is all about. Everybody has a free gmail, hotmail FB, Insta etc. account. Is it free? No! They harvest your information to sell to other company's. I have seen many break-ins. Not a nice thing to learn your data is for sell on the streets so you can be targeted by criminals. If I take a look of them? They have not patching their stuff on time. Yes I have worked for big company's. Our patching days were regular and in time. It costs a lot off money to keep our data safe. I even was called out of bed once. A zero-day hack! We have the patch that you must apply now! That is what many people are not seeing; There is a battle going on between hackers and company's.

This message is of an other order. Credibility. That is what also Google is pointing out. Public trust. False information can bring a company down. Whose behind it? I suspect Russia, China?. Their attempts to unstable the west is a real one. Many false misinformation is entering our social media. They have an army in doing so. They love to see that we are looking at each other and thinking What?....... A quote of Shakespeare comes into mind. "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war....." Divide and conquer..... Old saying.... nothing has changed.... I agree with Google. Come with some real proof. And no "GURU" I am not ranting. I am just addressing a real problem that we have to deal every day..... Many other persons are also concerned..... They are asking also WTF?...... Is this real or not?...... I suspect not... The Google company is big and they are watching also their security closely. If they were caught with their pants down? Hahaha. Bye bye company. If it was true? The company became not that big as it is today. I still don't like their harvesting. It's is what it is.

jimbo45 · Sep 4, 2025

hader said:
This is the most concerning part. Is it true or not? Are there accounts affected? There is much at stake here. Money.... Shareholders. Reputation. Google is not a small company. They employ many workers that are not stupid. Security is a big thing nowhere days. Break-ins. They occur on a daily basis without our knowledge. Stealing information. They say public trust. Yes I know what they mean. They just keep saying that "our products are safe" But it is a commercial company. They also have to earn money. They harvest a lot of information of us that they selling to company's that are advertising stuff. This is old news. Microsoft does the same so what's new? Don't like it? Disconnect yourself from the internet or use an other OS.

I must agree with Google. They are not stupid also. Misinformation in cyberspace is a real concern. What's real or not.... That what this is all about. Everybody has a free gmail, hotmail FB, Insta etc. account. Is it free? No! They harvest your information to sell to other company's. I have seen many break-ins. Not a nice thing to learn your data is for sell on the streets so you can be targeted by criminals. If I take a look of them? They have not patching their stuff on time. Yes I have worked for big company's. Our patching days were regular and in time. It costs a lot off money to keep our data safe. I even was called out of bed once. A zero-day hack! We have the patch that you must apply now! That is what many people are not seeing; There is a battle going on between hackers and company's.

This message is of an other order. Credibility. That is what also Google is pointing out. Public trust. False information can bring a company down. Whose behind it? I suspect Russia, China?. Their attempts to unstable the west is a real one. Many false misinformation is entering our social media. They have an army in doing so. They love to see that we are looking at each other and thinking What?....... A quote of Shakespeare comes into mind. "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war....." Divide and conquer..... Old saying.... nothing has changed.... I agree with Google. Come with some real proof. And no "GURU" I am not ranting. I am just addressing a real problem that we have to deal every day..... Many other persons are also concerned..... They are asking also WTF?...... Is this real or not?...... I suspect not... The Google company is big and they are watching also their security closely. If they were caught with their pants down? Hahaha. Bye bye company. If it was true? The company became not that big as it is today. I still don't like their harvesting. It's is what it is.

So your actual individual account has a 1 in approx 1 billion % chance of being "hacked" i.e negligibile - and even if it were - if you don't keep sensitive stuff in your email no problems .

Unless you make yourself a "Person of Interest" have you any idea of the sheer volume of data to sift through and the boredom that humans have reading through mostly junk.

As for "Data collection" -- every time you buy anything with a card in a physical store or online there's data being collected all the time for "analytical purposes". Companies like Google etc will repair any security breaches quickly - they've got the resources !!.

Most of these security articles are either complete paranoia clickbait or older 3rd party A/V software companies trying to push their largely obsolete old C20 software on to a C21 domestic OS which finally has decent robust security.

Home users should be far more worried about being scammed than getting hacked - and in any case as far as Gmail is concerned - just create a new account of that bothered. Also don't leave valuable data in emails.

Cheers
jimbo

Marie SWE · Sep 4, 2025

This is a site to keep in your bookmarks, where you can see if your email is in a data breach.
If the breach/leak/hack just have happen, it might take a while before it shows, as it takes time to update the databases.

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach

Have I Been Pwned allows you to check whether your email address has been exposed in a data breach.

haveibeenpwned.com

oldschool · Sep 4, 2025

antspants said:
In the U.S., there isn't a single federal deadline for disclosing a hacker compromise to clients; instead, the timeline is determined by state-specific data breach notification laws, which mandate "timely" notification after discovery. While the FTC also has specific rules for breaches involving HIPAA-protected data, the general approach relies on the varying requirements across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories

Delete, Delete, Delete: How FCC Republicans are killing rules faster than ever

FCC speeds up rule-cutting, giving public as little as 10 days to file objections.

arstechnica.com

Dark Knight · Sep 4, 2025

My Gmail account has along @ssed password and has 2FA that involves my fingerprint and Yubikey ... not too worried about it

If Google has to call or text me for my login information , we are all in trouble

2.5 billion Gmail accounts exposed as massive hack uncovered

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