Google bots shut down Baltimore officials’ ransomware-workaround Gmail accounts

Enlarge / Oh, Baltimore. (credit: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
In the wake of the ransomware attack that has kept city networks and infrastructure shut down now for over two weeks, Baltimore officials—including the mayor and city council members—set up Google Gmail accounts as a backup communications channel. But earlier this week, Google's automated systems shut the accounts down, instructing the account holders to purchase a business account.
'These account were disabled because the creation of a large number of new accounts triggered Google’s automated security system,' a Google spokesperson told Ars. 'The threshold is around 50 accounts, so more than 50 accounts triggered its systems.'
On May 23, a Google spokesperson said through the company's Twitter account, 'We have restored access to the Gmail accounts for the Baltimore City officials. Our automated security systems disabled the accounts due to the bulk creation of multiple consumer Gmail accounts from the same network.'
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