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asacco
Managing Editor

Teenager Claims to Find Code Flaw in Gmail

News
Mar 02, 20061 min
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

A teenage blogger claims to have discovered a flaw in Google Inc.’s Gmail service that allows JavaScript to run, potentially allowing a malicious hacker to gather e-mail addresses or compromise an account. The supposed flaw may already have been fixed, however.

The teenager identifies himself in his blog as a 14-year-old named Anthony. Check out his Gmail entry.

He wrote that he was trying to e-mail JavaScript code from a Yahoo Inc. account to a G-mail account. The code will run in a preview pane, he wrote. But if the code is mailed from one Gmail account to another, it is filtered out, he said.

Some visitors to the blog reported being able to replicate the findings, but others said later that they were not able to and that the supposed flaw had been fixed. Google representatives in London could not immediately comment, saying the report would be forwarded to their technical staff.

Don’t forget to keep checking in at our CSO Security Feed page for updated news coverage.

-Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service

asacco
Managing Editor

Al Sacco was a journalist, blogger and editor who covers the fast-paced mobile beat for CIO.com and IDG Enterprise, with a focus on wearable tech, smartphones and tablet PCs. Al managed CIO.com writers and contributors, covered news, and shared insightful expert analysis of key industry happenings. He also wrote a wide variety of tutorials and how-tos to help readers get the most out of their gadgets, and regularly offered up recommendations on software for a number of mobile platforms. Al resides in Boston and is a passionate reader, traveler, beer lover, film buff and Red Sox fan.

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