The American Corporation Google has unexpectedly started blocking multiple Russian companies in its Workspace corporate services. This includes Gmail, Google documents, Google disk, and other services that are part of the Workspace package.
According to publicly available information, the blocking began on the night of August 10, 2023, without any prior notice. The restrictions primarily impacted corporate customers, particularly those that had previously been subject to Western sanctions. Employees of these companies no longer have access to their corporate emails and documents.
An estimated 30% of Russian companies’ corporate information is stored on Google servers, even though there are domestic alternatives available. Many companies still prefer to use Workspace, but they are now facing the risk of losing access to important information if they don’t have backup copies.
Google has cited alleged spam as the reason for these locks. Spam refers to the mass distribution of unwanted messages, which can come in various forms such as electronic newsletters, instant messages, search spam, blog spam, advertising spam, SMS spam, spam on internet forums, and social networks. Spam constitutes approximately 80% of the world’s email traffic.
Distributing spam is advantageous for many companies as it requires minimal costs and allows for a wide reach of potential customers.
Attackers also exploit spam for phishing fraud, attempting to obtain credit card information and access passwords for user online payment systems. These types of spam are often disguised as official messages from bank administrations.