Google to Users: Watch Out for State-Sponsored Attacks

The next time you log in to Gmail or run a Google search, don't be surprised if you see a warning that "state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer.” The search engine giant is issuing the messages to tens of thousands of users since it gathered new intelligence about increased cyberattacks from countries in the Middle East, reports the New York Times.

Though Google isn't calling out any nations by name, security researchers say Iran, Qatar, and the UAE have all used spyware to monitor their own citizens and activists in other countries. Iran, meanwhile, is facing its own cyber attack, reports Reuters. " We had a heavy attack against the country's infrastructure and communications companies which has forced us to limit the Internet ," an official tells state-run Iranian Labor News Agency. "All of these attacks have been organized. And they have in mind the country's nuclear, oil, and information networks." Maybe that's why Tehran is developing its own Internet. (More Google stories.)