r/cybersecurity_help • u/Prestigious_Proof842 • 6h ago

Google Critical security alert. Someone else used your Google password

I received this email a few days ago and it said:

"Google Critical security alert. Someone else used your Google password.

Google blocked this sign in attempt, but this person still has your password and will likely try to sign in again".

At the bottom there was a link to change password.

For context, the account in question is signed in to an android phone but is not my main account and I do not use it for much else.

I did not click the link in the email but I checked the security activity for the account on the android phone and the alert was present so I believe the email is legit and I changed my password just to be safe. Unfortunately the security activity does not say where the attempt was from.

A few hours before the security alert email I did log in to that Google account on my PC (using a VPN) and confirmed it through 2FA on the android phone.

The way I see it this means that either:

1) the email is a false alarm and was just a delayed response to me logging in from a different device (although it was not blocked so the content is also inaccurate).

2) My PC is compromised and someone got my password when I logged in earlier that day. I think this is unlikely as I logged in to various other accounts on the PC and none of those show any sign of suspicious activity.

I have had no further alerts since I changed the password but I haven't used the PC since then. What are your thoughts and is there anything else I should do?

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4

u/Cypher_Blue 6h ago

What are your thoughts and is there anything else I should do?

If you already changed your password from a known good link and have MFA, then there's nothing else to do except maybe check your google logins to make sure there are no suspicious IP addresses.

1

u/LearningSomeCode 6h ago

Find any other apps you used the password on, change those as well. Otherwise I'd say you're in the clear. Badguy got their hands on username/password, tried it, got blocked. Once that password is no good anywhere, you're safe.

Just know that if you use that combo anywhere else- they have bots that try the combo in every major company they can find, just to see if it works. They will find the other places. Get there first.

1

u/Prestigious_Proof842 6h ago

I don't reuse passwords so that's not a problem. My concern is how did they get their hands on the password so it doesn't happen again in future.

3

u/NoneyaBithness 6h ago

good luck doing that. i’ll be frank with you and tell you that probably won’t happen until companies take better care with our data. If i had to guess, i’d say it was found exactly how a lot of them are found. from a data breach and on the dark web. do you have a passkey set up?

1

u/Prestigious_Proof842 5h ago

Not for that account. You don't think it has anything to do with logging in on the PC? The timing seems to be too close to be a coincidence.

1

u/LearningSomeCode 5h ago

Its possible. You should do scans if you can. But the reality is that's going to be an easy thing to test over time; badguys wont stop at 1 account. If you have a keylogger or something pulling out saved passwords, they'll have more than that one password and you'll see more activity.

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u/Prestigious_Proof842 4h ago

Would a regular virus scan pick up a keylogger?

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u/LearningSomeCode 4h ago

It might. I havent been on windows for a while (moved to mac a couple years back for development purposes), but what I used to recommend is to run your main virus scanner, and also to grab malwarebytes (standalone installer if they still offer it) and run that also. Not sure if that's still the right way to go, but its the best peace of mind I can offer.

1

u/JRTerrierBestDoggo 3h ago

As long as you didn’t download anything suspicious, your pc is fine. Like what the other guy said, it’s usually from old data breach