Indian police probe Google over 500,000 fake Gmail bomb-threat accounts
Indian police are digging into Google after busting a huge network of over 500,000 fake Gmail accounts used to send bomb threat hoaxes.
The story broke when a bomb threat email received by the state government on September 10, days ahead of the recent New Delhi summit of the BRICS grouping.
Thankfully, the threats turned out to be fake and two people were arrested, but now there are big questions about how these accounts slipped through Google's security, especially its 2-factor authentication.
Indian authorities probe Firebase misuse
Authorities want to know how Google's services, like Firebase, might have been misused for scams, especially since some accounts were bought in bulk from Bangladesh using cryptocurrency.
India already loses more than $2 billion each year to cybercrime.
While Google's parent company Alphabet hasn't commented yet, this case is shining a light on just how important stronger online security has become.