5 ms·

The thing that makes this fishy is that I also received an email for my Google Workspace organization about link sharing changing for Google Drive for a securit

by judge2020 5y ago

The thing that makes this fishy is that I also received an email for my Google Workspace organization about link sharing changing for Google Drive for a security update, and the date it initially takes effect is the same day at this YouTube thing, July 23. https://support.google.com/a/answer/10685032?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/10685032?hl=en Could something have happened across their entire Zanzibar/ ACL infrastructure?

llacb47 5y ago
Could you explain what that is?
- chx 5y ago
  https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/ https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/
- jzelinskie 5y ago
  The permissions service at Google. For more details see: https://authzed.com/blog/what-is-zanzibar/ https://authzed.com/blog/what-is-zanzibar/
tenerifevisitor 5y ago
What is Zanzibar?
- phuff 5y ago
  I found this link: https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/ https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/
  - chairmanwow1 5y ago
    I really do love this paper.
tech234a 5y ago
YouTube mentions the Drive change on their blog post[1], and Drive mentions the YouTube change on theirs[2]. [1]: https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-youtube-unlisted-links/ https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-youtube-unlisted... [2]: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/06/drive-file-link-updates.html https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/06/drive-file-l...
xxpor 5y ago
I completely thought the email I got for this (for my personal Google app domain) was a phishing attempt. Why couldn't they have included the text in the email rather than some generic sketchy "You have a notification" nonsense?
- jerryoftheyear 5y ago
  Yeah this one was pretty bad, I had the same reaction.
- dylan604 5y ago
  If there was a link that said "Click here to view your messages", then yeah, I'd agree it would sound like a phishing attempt. If it was an email saying, "You have a notification" and you have to manually log in to see it, then there's less chance of you clicking on a phishing attempt. Also, if there's any personal/private/sensitive information, this method makes it unavailable over email. Just shooting from the hip. It could also just be laziness.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    You’re training users to click a “you have a notification” email that’s not easy to verify is legit.
    - lmm 5y ago
      You're training users to not click a link in an email, but rather log in from your homepage.
      - bombcar 5y ago
        It has a big “click here” button - at least this email did. Yea better is to tell them to go login and provide no links.
  - hackmiester 5y ago
    Yeah, that's why it looked so phishy. Exact text: "Dear Google Workspace Administrator, You have an important notification from Google Operations that requires your attention. Sincerely, The Google Operations Team" And then there is a clickable link: "Go to Alert Center" This is the first time I have EVER heard of the Alert Center. So, I also assumed it was made up.
QuercusMax 5y ago
Seems highly unlikely to me (a Google engineer who works on systems that use Zanzibar / Cloud IAM) that this is a result of anything other than a change in policy.
- resoluteteeth 5y ago
  This person seems to believe it's a security issue with video ids, but maybe that's not related to Zanzibar: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27611436 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27611436
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    This is true. There are rumours the key has leaked swirling.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    I still find it odd why the Google Drive change would be related to this, but maybe they're not related besides that date being 'migration day'.
oh_sigh 5y ago
Out of curiosity, could you blindly speculate about something that could happen to this service that would require these changes to be made in drive/youtube?

llacb47 5y ago

Could you explain what that is?

chx 5y ago
https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/ https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/
jzelinskie 5y ago
The permissions service at Google. For more details see: https://authzed.com/blog/what-is-zanzibar/ https://authzed.com/blog/what-is-zanzibar/

tenerifevisitor 5y ago

What is Zanzibar?

phuff 5y ago
I found this link: https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/ https://research.google/pubs/pub48190/
- chairmanwow1 5y ago
  I really do love this paper.

tech234a 5y ago

YouTube mentions the Drive change on their blog post[1], and Drive mentions the YouTube change on theirs[2]. [1]: https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-youtube-unlisted-links/ https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-youtube-unlisted... [2]: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/06/drive-file-link-updates.html https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/06/drive-file-l...

xxpor 5y ago

I completely thought the email I got for this (for my personal Google app domain) was a phishing attempt. Why couldn't they have included the text in the email rather than some generic sketchy "You have a notification" nonsense?

jerryoftheyear 5y ago
Yeah this one was pretty bad, I had the same reaction.
dylan604 5y ago
If there was a link that said "Click here to view your messages", then yeah, I'd agree it would sound like a phishing attempt. If it was an email saying, "You have a notification" and you have to manually log in to see it, then there's less chance of you clicking on a phishing attempt. Also, if there's any personal/private/sensitive information, this method makes it unavailable over email. Just shooting from the hip. It could also just be laziness.
- bombcar 5y ago
  You’re training users to click a “you have a notification” email that’s not easy to verify is legit.
  - lmm 5y ago
    You're training users to not click a link in an email, but rather log in from your homepage.
    - bombcar 5y ago
      It has a big “click here” button - at least this email did. Yea better is to tell them to go login and provide no links.
- hackmiester 5y ago
  Yeah, that's why it looked so phishy. Exact text: "Dear Google Workspace Administrator, You have an important notification from Google Operations that requires your attention. Sincerely, The Google Operations Team" And then there is a clickable link: "Go to Alert Center" This is the first time I have EVER heard of the Alert Center. So, I also assumed it was made up.

QuercusMax 5y ago

Seems highly unlikely to me (a Google engineer who works on systems that use Zanzibar / Cloud IAM) that this is a result of anything other than a change in policy.

resoluteteeth 5y ago
This person seems to believe it's a security issue with video ids, but maybe that's not related to Zanzibar: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27611436 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27611436
- londons_explore 5y ago
  This is true. There are rumours the key has leaked swirling.
- judge2020 5y ago
  I still find it odd why the Google Drive change would be related to this, but maybe they're not related besides that date being 'migration day'.

oh_sigh 5y ago

Out of curiosity, could you blindly speculate about something that could happen to this service that would require these changes to be made in drive/youtube?