The language service provision industry aims to localize both oral and written content from a source language into different languages. As we know, this content can come in a wide variety of types depending on the field of knowledge they cover (medicine, law, technology, etc.), the medium they are distributed in (audiovisual, text, gestural, etc.) or even the purpose for which they are intended (publication, shaping opinion, suggestion, etc.). In this respect, we can say that throughout their professional career, translators work with all kinds of materials. These are then used by different clients in order to conduct their business internationally or ensure the goods and services they market reach every corner of the globe in localized form. This allows the target audience to receive and process the content much more naturally and easily than if they had to interact with a language they do not speak and a culture they do not know. Indeed, the role of translation professionals is essential for understanding the business relationships that exist today. In fact, the involvement of these expert profiles in intercultural communication is considered so relevant for the success of organizations that it is increasingly common for them to have in-house specialized translators that localize their internally produced content. Not only does this provide greater cost savings, but it provides certain guarantees in terms of security. So, what are we referring to?
As we have mentioned, organizations tend to generate different types of materials that are necessary for their businesses to operate correctly. Sometimes, they must present these materials to third parties who do not know the language they were prepared in. Therefore, these organizations need to use language service providers, such as translation agencies or freelance professionals, in order to localize these materials and make them available in the corporate system. These materials are sometimes documents containing sensitive information about the organization that has created them. For example, consider contracts that govern the business relationship between two or more parties, databases containing information about accounts, salaries and workers or the content of reports drafted for private projects. All of these contain sensitive data that must not be revealed publicly and indiscriminately under any circumstance since the unregulated use of data without the consent of the parties involved is a serious offense. The article GDPR in the translation industry, gives more information about the importance of respecting this regulation. Likewise, consider the delicate situation clients would be faced with and the future of their projects if the content of their work became public knowledge due to an error in processing confidential information. In some cases, this would waste the hard work invested in projects and, in other more worrying cases, it could cause a loss of money. Where do these security threats to sensitive data come from when performing language service provision activities?
The truth is that there are several steps during the translation process that entail a risk to the confidentiality of the data found in a translation. To start with, there is the communication between the client and the contact person at the translation agency. Of course, certain identifying data must be processed at this time in order to register the client in the system, but it is sometimes necessary to attach documents that require translation (for example, a scanned certificate, a PDF contract, an Excel table with financial information, etc.). If a suitable protocol is not in place, these materials could be exposed to cyberattacks and misappropriation. Similarly, certain strategies used during the translation process are not suitable for highly confidential projects, as is the case with automatic translation. If text is loaded into an automatic translation engine, this confidential text may be loaded onto a public server that generates future automatic translation results. This means that the information becomes public for third parties who are not the intended recipient. In the same vein, it is unwise to insert the text of these materials into assisted translation tools that are connected to the Internet since this would open the door to cyber criminals intent on fraudulently obtaining information.
It is for this reason that a resource was necessary in the translation sector that would create a commitment between the client and language service provider with regards to the protection of sensitive data and confidential information contained in the translation materials, as well as its non-disclosure. The “non-disclosure agreement” or “NDA” arose from this context.
A non-disclosure agreement is a contract through which the language service provider commits to responsibly using the materials and information shared by the client, that is, for translation purposes, such that this provider takes some responsibility if there is a security leaks on their end. In this way, the client has a solid security guarantee that the provider will exercise caution and use all available means in order to not compromise the confidentiality of a specific project. The article Cybersecurity in the translation industry, discusses these measures in more detail.
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