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meerkt
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Gmail alerts on access from its own IP addresses

Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:41 pm

Occasionally, maybe once a year, Gmail sends a security recommendation to turn off "legacy app access" (or whatever it's called). I think, sure, I can enable it next time I do an offline IMAP/POP backup. So I disable it.

An hour or two later I get a security alert. A failed attempt to access my email! They knew my password, but the access was blocked by Gmail. I should change my password. Every time I fall for it, and it takes me a while to recall what it is. I have two Gmail accounts. One downloads from the other using POP/IMAP. This requires "legacy app access" for some reason. And when that's disabled, Gmail blocks itself. The strange thing is, it never recognizes that the access attempt is from a Google/Gmail server IP address.

PS: I don't want to forward. It adds headers.
 
just brew it!
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Re: Gmail alerts on access from its own IP addresses

Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:56 pm

Yes, their "malicious access" detection seems to have a high false-positive rate. I've been getting them sporadically due to still using Thunderbird as the e-mail client on my home desktop, even with legacy app access enabled.

I realize I should probably just use a more modern e-mail client, or switch to their web interface. But as someone who started out using Netscape 3.01 as my e-mail client back in the mid-'90s, the Thunderbird UI (a direct descendant of the original Netscape e-mail client) just feels the most natural; and the fact that e-mail folders are stored locally as plain text files is a plus.

I imagine Google will shut off legacy app support at some point. When that day comes, I'll have to decide whether to switch to something else, or set up my own mail relay and forward the Google account to that.
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cheesyking
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Re: Gmail alerts on access from its own IP addresses

Fri Dec 14, 2018 4:30 am

just brew it! wrote:
I realize I should probably just use a more modern e-mail client, or switch to their web interface. But as someone who started out using Netscape 3.01 as my e-mail client back in the mid-'90s, the Thunderbird UI (a direct descendant of the original Netscape e-mail client) just feels the most natural; and the fact that e-mail folders are stored locally as plain text files is a plus.


Don't quote me on this but I think if you add your gmail account to TB now it will use google's oauth login instead of a traditional saved password. I'm assuming you're using a TB profile that you setup years ago before they added this feature.
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just brew it!
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Re: Gmail alerts on access from its own IP addresses

Fri Dec 14, 2018 6:36 am

cheesyking wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
I realize I should probably just use a more modern e-mail client, or switch to their web interface. But as someone who started out using Netscape 3.01 as my e-mail client back in the mid-'90s, the Thunderbird UI (a direct descendant of the original Netscape e-mail client) just feels the most natural; and the fact that e-mail folders are stored locally as plain text files is a plus.

Don't quote me on this but I think if you add your gmail account to TB now it will use google's oauth login instead of a traditional saved password. I'm assuming you're using a TB profile that you setup years ago before they added this feature.

Ahh... thanks for the tip. It appears that inability to use OAuth is due to my use of POP as the protocol for incoming mail. Switching to IMAP will purportedly enable OAuth. Guess I will need to look into that.

The alerts seem to have stopped for now though, so the motivation to fix it has diminished. :lol:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

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