• Networking

  • We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise

your account.

That's another new warning that we may see by google. I thing several instances of the people's gmail account on this forum by some government offices, so this is taking the next step.
What is this a question? An opinion?
In any case the meaning is not very clear to me. For one thing, it helps when English sentences contain a verb.
Anyway I have not received any sort of warning. I wonder how Google would know that "state-sponsored attackers" are at work. All I can make is that if someone is located in the US, for example and someone is trying to log into their account from China, then google would assume a state-sponsored attack and issue such a warning.
In any case the normal rules apply, have a long password, do not log in on public computers (if you do, change your password afterwards), watch out for viruses, and I guess that should keep you safe.
@rolf how much you suggest the password length should be at least ?
solo220 wrote@rolf how much you suggest the password length should be at least ?
All of my important accounts have a password that is at least 15 characters.
rolf wroteWhat is this a question? An opinion?
In any case the meaning is not very clear to me. .
I brought this up in a response to an older thread which had our government hacking into email accounts--nothing more. Also, if you read that link, it would have pointed out Google's way of figuring out that it was from a state sponsor as opposed to individual hackers (hint: their trade secret).
solo220 wrote@rolf how much you suggest the password length should be at least ?
That's up to you but i'd say more then 6 letters (most sites don't let you pick less then 8 nowadays, anyway), and try not using english words. Maybe Lebanese words. I use non-english words such as brand names with misspelling in them, and have a number somewhere. It is stronger in the middle of the word, but at the end is good too, I think.
I think that the biggest threat comes from viruses and logging in from public computers. With a delay or lock on login after x failed tries, I think password attacks are hard to get right.
Having a 15 letter password helps when someone might be snooping over your shoulder. It's really hard to figure out a 15 key combination by looking at someone's keyboard while they're typing. But personally I prefer shorter passwords that are easy to memorize therefore easy to change, and reduce the chance of a mistake and of having to type it again.
xazbrat wrotepointed out Google's way of figuring out that it was from a state sponsor as opposed to individual hackers (hint: their trade secret).
I read the link twice, and I still don't know how they figure out that.
In any case, thanks for your explanation and the link to the older thread.