Google's "Critical security alert" email

Overview

You may receive an email like the below stating a "Sign-in attempt was blocked" for an email address in the @gtempaccount.com domain. This is not an attack or concerning; it's just benign leftovers from a transition. 

Background

The "username%[email protected]" was created as a result of Google requiring the Laboratory to transition to their new identity management framework, GA+, in 2011. This change allowed Laboratory users to use their LBL Google Account ([email protected]) to use more Google Services (like Picasa, Google Reader, Google Code, etc).

As part of this change, Google required "conflicting" accounts to be renamed (and thus the username%[email protected] was created). This means that Lab community members who had personal Google Accounts associated with their Laboratory email addresses would be required to make changes to their personal Google accounts.

Recommended Action

If you don't use the @gtempaccount.com address (most people don't)  you can go through the steps below to recover it and delete it. The general steps to do so are:

1. Open a private browser window, such as Google Incognito mode, and visit https://gmail.com and click "Sign In"
2. For username, enter the @gtempaccount.com address, for example jekrous%[email protected]
3. Select Forgot Password then click "Try another way"
4. You will see an option to send a verification code to your @lbl.gov account
5. Use that code to change the password of the @gtempaccount.com address
6. To delete your account 
   1. Go to Settings > Accounts and Import > Other Google Account settings
   2. click "Delete your account or services" and follow the steps