Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Google Translate glitch opens security hole

Developers moving to the upcoming paid version of Google Translate need to follow the documentation so their implementation of the package doesn't lead them to paying for someone else's use of the platform.

In its current form, if it's running on the same server as the chat program it's translating for, Google Translate exposes to public view the customer identification code associated with a particular user.

MASSIVE: Hackers launch millions of Java exploits, says Microsoft 

Proxying the translator to another server hides the API that exposes the code and solves the problem, Google says in its documentation.

Developers at unified communications vendor IceWarp, which integrates Google Translate into its UC product, discovered the problem while working on its own implementation and put out a warning.

If the customer code is left exposed it can be copied and placed in another instance of Google Translate, meaning that the customer whose code was stolen will receive the bill for the customer who reuses it, says IceWarp.

At the moment the problem doesn't make any difference because Google doesn't charge for use of Google Translate, says Ladislav Goc , IceWarp's president.

But come January, Google says it will charge licensees based on how many characters it translates. Then, if the proxying option isn't used, customers run the risk of being hacked and billed for other licensees' use, Goc says

Google points to its documentation that says developers can restrict their API keys to a white list. "As a best practice for security, we recommend that developers proxy the API requests through their own server to keep their key private," a spokesman for Google says.

Goc says IceWarp's implementation will be done on an accompanying server, not the Web server hosting the chat page. That means the raw code is blocked from public view, he says.

Read more about wide area network in Network World's Wide Area Network section.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Google, LAN, Microsoft
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: application development, Google, Microsoft, programming, security, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Best Practices for Implementing a Data Warehouse on the Oracle Exadata Database Machine
    Increasingly companies are recognizing the value of an enterprise data warehouse (EDW). A true EDW provides a single 360-degree view of the business and a powerful platform for a wide spectrum of business intelligence tasks ranging from predictive analysis to near real-time strategic and tactical decision support throughout the organization. Ensuring the EDW will get the desired performance and will scale out as your data grows you need to get three fundamental things correct, the hardware configuration, the physical data model and the data loading process. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • High Availability with Oracle Database 11g Release 2
    In this paper, we review the common causes of application downtime and discuss how technologies available in the Oracle Database can help avoid costly downtime and enable rapid recovery from unplanned failures and also minimize impact from planned outages. We also highlight new technologies introduced in Oracle Database 11g Release 2 that enable businesses to make their IT infrastructure even more robust and fault tolerant, maximize their return on investment on high availability infrastructure, and provide better quality of service to users.
    Learn more »
  • Why performance management? A guide for the midsize organisation
    Midsize organisations are uniquely positioned to take advantage of a performance management approach to business. Compared with larger companies, they have more agility to bring information and people together and respond faster to changing market conditions. With one performance management solution, midsize companies can turn disconnected data into information, turn information into valuable insight and turn insight into action.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.