The New York Times is reporting that Google’s password system was compromised during a targeted attack last December. The system, called Gaia or Single Sign-On, controls access by millions of users worldwide to almost all of the company’s Web services, including e-mail and business applications.
NY Times reporter John Markoff
writes:
The program, code named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in a lightning raid taking less than two days last December, the person said. Described publicly only once at a technical conference four years ago, the software is intended to enable users and employees to sign in with their password just once to operate a range of services.
The intruders do not appear to have stolen passwords of Gmail users, and the company quickly started making significant changes to the security of its networks after the intrusions. But the theft leaves open the possibility, however faint, that the intruders may find weaknesses that Google might not even be aware of, independent computer experts said.
