14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, news about a potential Gmail security flaw that could let attackers turn Google's service into a spamming machine could be spotted everywhere around the web, but all users were still expecting an official statement from the Mountain View-based company. Well, the statement came today and, according to The Inquisitr, Google has promptly denied the claims, saying that Gmail cannot be used as a spamming service.
As you may know in case you have read the news, a glitch found in the way Gmail forwards email messages could be used by spammers to send emails to thousands of inboxes in a few minutes. The worst thing about this issue was not only the fact that Gmail could be used for spamming, but also that Gmail was always treated as a trusted service, so all the messages signed by it could arrive straight into the inbox and bypass any spam filter.
Well, Google denying these claims and, according to the same source mentioned above, it has a pretty simple explanation: Gmail works with DomainKeys and email authentication only when sending regular emails and not when forwarding messages. This means that any potential unsolicited mail sent with the help of this glitch should be treated as a normal spam message and should be blocked if there's a spam filter installed on the receiver's server.
However, the Gmail team is still investigating the reports in order to be sure that Gmail remains on the safe side and doesn't turn into what could prove to be the most dangerous glitch affecting Google's mail service ever. "We are aware of the potential for this kind of abuse and we have controls in place to prevent large attacks. We are also investigating additional ways we can prevent this kind of activity," a Google representative told The Inquisitr.