Business | Technology
Rush to bolster Gmail security after attacks
Direct challenge to Google's ability to keep customer data private and secure
- By Richard Waters and Maija Palmer
- Published: 00:00 January 16, 2010
London : Google has rushed to step up the security of Gmail, its web-based e-mail system, following the admission that hackers based in China had been partially successful in cutting through its security defences.
It also sought to reassure corporate users of its online applications that its ‘cloud computing' services — applications like word processing that it runs centrally on its own servers — had not succumbed to the attacks.
However, the episode could still dent users' confidence in the security of its web-based services, according to industry observers. The attacks posed a direct challenge to Google's ability to keep its customer data private and secure and required a strong response from the company, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Collins Stewart.
"This is a pretty public blow against the security of the cloud," added Whit Andrews, vice-president at Gartner, the research company. The attacks could make some companies think twice about whether to adopt online services but was unlikely to have an effect on individual Gmail users, he added.
Google said that the direct attack on its corporate systems had led only to a limited amount of data about two Gmail accounts being accessed. However, it also said that attacks on its users had led to the Gmail accounts of ‘dozens' of human rights activists being compromised around the world.
—Financial Times
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