Each computer software, website or piece of technology is basically computer codes written to perform a certain task be it to run a machine, a website or an app. And like all human created things, it can be altered and can be misused. And today in the age of technology with hackers and cyber-terrorism on the rise, our data is not safe online. The hackers are developing new ways and methods to extract and misuse our precious data. Sure, the prominent tech industries is developing new ways to safeguard our digital journey and are coming up with new and better ways. But it is also true that the hackers are improvising and learning new things to bypass the safeguards kept to protect us. Spam calls and messages are a thing of past now where they ask the user to open links or malicious websites, which could give your personal details to the hacker. From there they could exploit the data in a way they see fit. Now, the hackers have found a new way of stealing user data and that is through Google’s own Google Translate.
Google which stands above everything tech is being used to phish into the accounts of the users to steal data, a report on ZDNet read. Google translate is a translation app/program built by Google to help people understand another language. It translates the content, webpage to user’s choice of language. And hackers have found a loophole in this program, which allows them access to a user’s account when they interact with it. According to the report, hackers are using Google Translate to send malicious mails of a fake website URL (uniform resource locator) to the users. When the user interacts with the phishing mail, he is redirected to the fake URL with Google Translate icon on it. It appears like a regular website, but it is definitely not. Once interacted with the link it might give your social media usernames and passwords to the person behind the link. And worse, your bank account details might also be shared without even you knowing. The desktop users might be able to identify and safeguard themselves from these kinds of mails and websites as there might be possible signs of a fake link visible near the URL. But for the people who interact with the mails on their phones, it might be hard to identify such links and they might be in trouble once it opens up. So, to stop being phished the users should open these if necessary, but on desktops only. Google has also asked users to report such links, URLs and mails so that it can remove them from Google Translate.
