Security Alert: Gmail Filter Virus

Last time I wrote about Facebook image tag spam which is rather more annoying than dangerous. But now it’s the Gmail accounts that are getting compromised with Gmail filter virus. So what is Gmail filter virus? Let’s talk about it in a little detail.

gmail filter virus
Picture courtsy: pcmag.com

If you are a power user of Gmail, you must have used filters to organize your email in different labels. Filters are applied to incoming mail for automating the actions taken on the incoming email. Gmail filter virus creates filters for spam email. The filters are created such that the email is skip from inbox, marked as read and forwarded to all the contacts which are in your Gmail contacts list. This can make your Gmail account spam all over the internet without your knowledge.

How to check you are infected

To check if you are infected or not, login to your Gmail account and then go to Settings (top right corner of the browser) and then got to Filters Tab. If you have filters that you don’t recognize (see the picture above), then you may well be a victim of this virus.

How to get rid of Gmail Filter Virus

Although Google has taken steps to fix this issue on the server side but this virus can leak into any account. This virus can take control of your Gmail account by compromising your user credentials. If you think you are infected by this virus, you should first change your password and secret question and answer as soon as possible and then scan your system on which you open your email with an up to date antivirus. And then you can delete all the filters created by this virus.

This virus may not be limited to Gmail only so if you are using any other email service, you need to make sure that you are not infected by this virus.

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