'You have no way to revoke it faster or confirm when it stops working': Experts find Google API keys are still usable, even after you delete them
Aikido researchers have discovered that Google API keys can remain active for up to 23 minutes after deletion, posing a significant security risk. The inconsistency in the revocation window and the potential for unauthorized access raises concerns for users, especially those utilizing Gemini-enabled projects. Google has dismissed the issue as a propagation delay, but experts recommend treating the deletion process with caution and monitoring for unexpected usage.
- ▪Google API keys can still be authenticated for up to 23 minutes after deletion.
- ▪The revocation window varies significantly, with success rates fluctuating across trials.
- ▪Aikido's report criticized Google's misleading user interface regarding the immediate effectiveness of key deletion.
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| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/you-have-no-way-to-revoke-it-faster-or-confirm-when-it-stops-working-experts-find-google-api-keys-are-still-usable-even-after-you-delete-them |
| Publication time | Fri, 22 May 2026 18:35:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-22T18:37:02.730Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-22T18:37:02.730Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | xz-VQ6axBqJl · 2 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Pro Security 'You have no way to revoke it faster or confirm when it stops working': Experts find Google API keys are still usable, even after you delete them News By Sead Fadilpašić published 22 May 2026 Some Google API keys can still be used For more than 20 minutes after deletion When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Quardia via Shutterstock) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Aikido researchers find Google API keys remain usable for up to 23 minutes after deletionSuccess rates varied across trials, with Gemini‑enabled projects especially…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechRadar.
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