Spammers beat Gmail filters by abusing Google Calendar, Forms, Photos, Analytics

guest · Jun 12, 2019

Spammers beat Gmail filters by abusing Google Calendar, Forms, Photos, Analytics
June 11, 2019
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/11/google_kaspersky_gmail_spam/

Spammers are abusing the preferential treatment Google affords its own apps to score free passes through Gmail's spam filters, it was claimed this week.

"The spammer’s main task is to bypass the spam filter and deliver email to your inbox," Kaspersky analyst Maria Vergelis helpfully reminded us. "As it happens, Google services often send email notifications to Gmail inboxes — and Google’s antispam module avoids flagging notifications from its own services as spam."

For example, the scammer could send a block of Gmail users a Calendar invite with the description being a link to a fake banking site. Rather than catch and filter out the e-nasty, Gmail would let the notification through and, when the person clicked the link, they would then go to the phony bank page.
Vergelis noted that Google Photos is also a popular method for evading filters.
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"The main problem is that messages sent through a legal service are assigned its standard headers, so spam filters often view them as harmless," Vergelis explained. "And spam subjects vary widely, so interception requires a high threshold level in the spam filter, which can lead to excessive false positives. Spammers take advantage of this to exploit public services for their own purposes."
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Kaspersky: How spammers use Google services

guest · Aug 23, 2019

How to keep spam from invading your Google Calendar
August 23, 2019
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20829615/google-calendar-spam-events-sharing-email-how-to-stop

For some time now, Google Calendar users have been vulnerable to a rather nasty type of spam that seems to have gained momentum lately.
At minimum, this is annoying. First, you have to go through the trouble of turning down the invite, which often will expose you to objectionable content. And then you will have the crossed-out appointment — which can appear as a daily appointment — messing up your carefully organized calendar.

There is a way to set up your calendar so that the spam doesn’t have a chance to get in at all and to get rid of any crossed-out appointments that you already have. It’s a three-part process.
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guest · Sep 3, 2019

Official fix for Google Calendar spam is (eventually) coming
September 3, 2019
https://9to5google.com/2019/09/03/google-calendar-spam-official-fix/

For the past few months, a method of spamming Google accounts via Calendar has made the rounds. As of the past couple of weeks, though, things have just gotten much worse. Today, Google has officially acknowledged the spam problem with Calendar and says that a fix will be coming.

A very brief post on Google’s support forums confirms the company is aware of this spam issue that has been affecting users. The company says that it is “working diligently” to resolve the problem, but at the moment, there’s no timeline attached to that.
For those unaware, Google Calendar spam takes advantage of a function that automatically imports events from Google’s Gmail. While users are accustomed to seeing and avoiding spam in email form, Calendar is a trusted application that makes it easy to catch people off-guard. Many of the spam “events” lately have been related to free iPhones and other products that simply try to get users to click on a link.

It’s relatively easy to fix this problem in the interim, but clearly, Google Calendar needs an official fix for this spam issue.
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guest · Jul 20, 2022

Google Calendar combating invite spam with ‘Only if the sender is known’ option
July 20, 2022

Touted as a way to keep your “Calendar free from spam,” Google is adding the ability to only have events appear if they come from a known sender.

Known senders include people in your contacts list and those that you’ve previously interacted with. It also applies to people in your same company/domain.

If you select this option, you still get email event invitations from unknown senders, but they appear on your calendar only after you accept. [...]
“Only if the sender is known” joins “From everyone” and “When I respond to the invitation in email.” The “Add invitations to my calendar” preference appears under General > Event settings on the web.
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Google: Prevent spam by adding invitations from known senders only to your calendar

Quick summary
To help keep your Google Calendar free from spam, you can now select an option to display events on your calendar only if they come from a sender you know. If you select this option, you still get email event invitations from unknown senders, but they appear on your calendar only after you accept.
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Spammers beat Gmail filters by abusing Google Calendar, Forms, Photos, Analytics

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