Last week, security researchers announced they had found a , which they called "Flame" (and in some cases, "Flamer"). Flame pilfered vast amounts of data from Middle Eastern computers, most of them located in either Iran or Palestine.

Some experts believe that because of its size and complexity, as well as the need to digest the huge amount of data is hoovers, Flame is probably state-sponsored.

And just last Friday, the New York Times reported that -- using the Stuxnet worm -- in an attempt to disrupt or delay that nation's nuclear fuel enrichment program.

Gmail-specific warnings are also not new. Since March 2010, Google has notified Gmail users when it . Google triggers that alert in part on the Internet Protocol (IP) address of each successful log-on.

Google's state-sponsored warning includes a link to a page on Google's Help website, where the company hinted at why it issued the alert.