At the beginning of August 2025, a widespread rumor emerged that Google was the newest (but not the last) victim of a data theft attack from Salesforce. Referred to as “Google hacked,” this event creates implications for data security, corporate risk mitigation and the ongoing, greater need for strong cybersecurity. Here, we will take an initial look at how Google got hacked, what type of implications the breach has and what organizations should learn as result of this scary event.
In June 2020, a well-planned social engineering campaign occurred against Google with the use of voice phishing (vishing). The exploiting actors, known as threat actor group UNC6040 (also referenced as ShinyHunters), were able to exploit human vulnerabilities to acquire credentials that would lead them to Google’s Salesforce CRM instance. Once accessed, the attackers would gain access to the contact information and associated notes for small and medium business customers as the internal security teams were able to identify the intrusion and disrupt the process.
Lessons learned from this attack against Google:
Vishing Attack Vector: The exploiting actors impersonated known trusted personnel to obtain Google employee login credentials.
Salesforce Compromise: The attacker was able to access Google’s corporate Salesforce environment unauthorized which allowed the actors to exfiltrate data.
Limited Exposure: The compromised data would only be publicly available contact information along with notes about the companies themselves.
This incident highlights that social engineering attacks can still penetrate a corporation, regardless of their standing within an industry. For a time, the phrase “google hacked” trended around the world while cybersecurity practitioners identified steps of the attack and what for foreboding implications this would have on the business community at large.
The Role of ShinyHunters and UNC6040
Shinyhunters has a history of extortion and selling stolen data from various prominent organizations. Earlier are breaches of PowerSchool, Oracle Cloud, Snowflake, AT&T, NitroPDF, Wattpad, and MathWay. In fact, after Google was hacked the group made it clear to victims they would either leak or sell the data unless they received payments. It was reported that one victim actually paid the group 4 Bitcoin (about $400,000) so their data was not made public.
Shinyhunters repeated “google hacked” purposefully in forums, dark web marketplaces, social media etc., to create the maximum influence over their victims. This method of cyber extortion demonstrates the psychological aspect of cyber extortion: the communication of “google hacked” creates higher levels of fear and urgency.
Why the Google Hacked Incident Matters
1. Supply Chain Risks
Google’s incident reveals supply chain risks and supply vendor security failings. As many organizations embed Salesforce throughout their organization, the “google hacked” incident is a strong warning sign relating to supply chain and vendor management.
Because organizations have better endpoint identification and protections, human factor vulnerabilities such as social engineering are getting used a lot more frequently. The speed at which google was hacked is show casing to security teams everywhere that exploitative methods and social engineering taking advantages of one of the less controllable and less predictable security lapses: human factor.
3. Regulatory and Compliance Collateral Consequences
Data loss of any commodity, including pure contact records could create regulatory investigation under jurisdiction of global privacy laws. It is highly probable that “google hacked” will prompt for stricter regulations for breach notification and data governance processes.
4. Reputation and Trust
For a name brand like Google that prides itself as being branded as the security leader, a breach is branded risk. The hacked incident emphasizes reflecting on being transparent and trying to repair/restore risk as quickly as possible to avoid losing any brand trust with their end-users.
Learning lessons from the “google hacked” breach, organizations can strengthen their defenses:
Improved Education
Conduct generic scenario-based simulated vishing and phishing. Encourage staff to confirm unusual requests and to inform others of any suspicious contact.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Require MFA for every CRM and collaboration platform. If employee credentials were compromised, the other factor will still stop an intruder.
Salesforce Hardening
Implement least-privilege access criteria, timeouts on session inactivity, and only allow access to particular IP addresses when login into Salesforce. Audit users regularly and the API integrations users have running in Salesforce.
Continuously Monitor at the point of Incident Response
Use technology that allows monitoring of anomalous login attempts provided the necessary data set linking login IDs and devices to any incidents. Have an Incident Response Playbook to conduct some rapid containment and impact assessment and directing this back through communication channels.
Have a list of key vendors and their security posture including documentation that outlines the security baseline and require that their controls are exercised when access to privileged data and systems occurs.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Was any sensitive customer data leaked when Google was hacked?
No financial or highly sensitive personal data were accessed. The breach involved basic business contact details and notes.
2. How can I stay updated on the “google hacked” story?
Follow credible cybersecurity news outlets and Google’s own security advisories for official statements and technical details.
3. Are other companies at risk of similar hacks?
Yes. Any organization using Salesforce or similar CRMs should assume risk and implement the mitigations outlined above.
The staying power of the “google hacked” situation serves to reinforce the reality that those defending information technology and the systems that help humanity become consciously aware of cyber risks need to act holistically. Technology is not the only answer. It is important that they combine the technology with human safety and human-centred training of risk management in the right way.
By (hopefully) leveraging the learnings from the Google incident, they can reduce social engineering harassment and future data theft attacks on their organization.
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