Hackers and scammers are always on the lookout for any major news that might tempt people to click on links they might otherwise shy away from. The news doesn’t come much bigger than the U.S. Justice Department’s filing of a 32-page document that calls for, among other things, the possibility of Google selling off parts of the company like Android, the web browser Chrome and even Play. Store.

The Department of Justice against Google

As Forbes reported on August 5, a Washington-based judge, Amit Mehta, concluded that Google had acted as a monopoly in an opinion that sided with the Justice Department as well as 11 states. The ruling found that Google had exercised monopolistic power in markets and charged “supracompetitive prices for general search text ads,” leading to anticompetitive behavior.

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U.S. attorneys filed a brief outlining a number of proposals aimed at preventing and restricting Google’s monopolistic practices. The brief stated that “Plaintiffs are considering remedies that would limit or end Google’s use of contracts, monopoly profits, and other tools to control or influence legacy and emerging distribution channels and search-related products.” . »

The security impact that breaking up Google would cause

Breaking up Google in this way, by forcing a sale of assets like Android and Chrome, is by no means a done deal. This story will continue and, all the while, the opportunities for nefarious activity that arise from it will continue.

And phishing campaigns that exploit uncertainty about Google’s future, while capitalizing on interest in the story, aren’t the only security threat emerging. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, warned that “separating Chrome and Android would jeopardize security and make it harder to fix security bugs.” Features like Chrome’s Safe Browsing, Android’s security features, and Play Protect for the Play Store all benefit from threat intelligence and intelligence signals from a diverse range of Google products and expertise has a long history in detecting the threats that accompany them.

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