In some cases, those alleged breaches are not quite what they seem to be. Case in point is a report first posted to a Russian Bitcoin forum site that information on nearly 5 million Google account holders was breached this week.<\/p>\n
Any alleged attack against Google is noteworthy, and 5 million accounts is also a significant number. That said, the bigger questions that always should be asked in any breach coverage center on what was stolen and whether there is any real impact.<\/p>\n
As a professional, facts are my currency, and speculation is just a cheap narcotic. So when I initially saw the first Google account breach reports, I held off on writing until the facts were revealed.<\/p>\n
The facts are that Google itself was not breached and 5 million users are not actually at risk.<\/p>\n
In a blog post Sept. 10, Google claimed that less than 2 percent of the username\/password credentials in the Russian breach list were actually valid.<\/p>\n
To add further fuel to the fire, Google noted that its automated anti-hijacking systems would limit the risk on the 2 percent that might be affected. Additionally, Google is now telling those people in the 2 percent list that they are required to reset their passwords.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3852\/15217512042_ae73f63860.jpg\")
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