By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
Google alerted dozens of people or more that the search engine giant was ordered by the FBI to release user data as part of an unspecified investigation.
The news site Motherboard indicated that the “unusual notice appears to be related” to a hacking tool called LuminosityLink.
Several people reported receiving the email and posted the information on popular social media platforms and HackForums, a popular source of information about hacking and cybersecurity.
“Google received and responded to legal process issue by Federal Bureau of Investigation (Eastern District of Kentucky) compelling the release of information related to your Google account,” the email read, according to people who said they received it.
A lawyer who specializes in cybercrimes said it appears Google was eventually given permission to notify users.
“It looks to me like the court initially ordered Google not to disclose the existence of the info demand, so Google was legally prohibited from notifying the user. Then the nondisclosure order was lifted, so Google notified the user. There’s nothing unusual about that per se,” the lawyer, Marcia Hoffman, told Motherboard in an online chat. “It’s common when law enforcement is seeking info during an ongoing investigation and doesn’t want to tip off the target(s).”
