Google’s User Password System was Hacked

Written by Pats Papers | Tuesday, 20 April 2010 5:16 AM

Google’s “crown jewel” password handling system was hacked last December, reports the New York Times. Although Google publicly disclosed a security break in January, the extent of the loss hasn’t become clear until now. The Times quotes a person with direct knowledge of the investigation in a report that the Gaia password system was hacked in a “lightning raid.” The Gaia system is Google’s little-discussed technology which allows a user to sign in just once to access many Google services.  The Times says the intruders do not appear to have stolen individual user passwords.

Coincidentally, Wired has a long feature in this month’s magazine by Steven Levy, who wrote the 1984 book “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.”

Apparently, there is a Google page specifically for hackers:

SOURCE: New York Times

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