India, Dec. 8 -- A polite email that wipes your cloud. A newly uncovered security flaw has raised serious concerns for anyone who links AI-powered browser assistants to Gmail and Google Drive. Researchers found that a single, harmless-looking email can push an assistant to delete every file in a user's Drive account. The attack needs no clicks, confirmations, or obvious red flags. It works because modern assistants are trained to act on natural-language instructions, sometimes with a little too much enthusiasm.

The attackers are focusing on those browser assistants that do all the tidying work for you, whether that's extensions or sidebar tools that automatically sort out your inbox and keep an eye on your drive for you. These helpful to...