Google Enhances Encryption Technology For Email
Google says it #39;s improved the encryption technology for its flagship email service. The change will make it harder for the National Security Agency to interc...

By: WochitTech

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Google Enhances Encryption Technology For Email - Video

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 21 (UPI) -- Google has said that all Gmail users will have HTTPS encryption, regardless of the security of their Internet connection, as emails move around Google servers.

The search giant has been attempting to strengthen security and data encryption standards after revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency was snooping the Internet, and possibly accessing Google's data centers. The move is important for the company as it relies heavily on user data to drive its services.

Google's security measure will secure communications of users emailing other Gmail users, as Google servers are involved at both ends, but may not extend to users with different email services. In those cases security not only depends on Google's encryption but on recipients' email service providers.

While Google's security measure will help prevent bulk email grabs, by individuals or institutions such as the NSA, targeted email interventions will still be possible.

Making an appearance at TED in Vancouver, Google CEO Larry Page was critical of the government's snooping program.

For me, its tremendously disappointing that the government sort of secretly did all these things and didnt tell us. I dont think we can have a democracy if were having to protect you and our users from the government for stuff that we never had a conversation about, he said.

Google has had HTTPS encryption since it started and has been a default feature since 2010, but the encryption wasn't applied to emails flowing through Google's servers.

[Slate] [PCMag]

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Google makes HTTPS encryption mandatory for Gmail

Google announced Thursday it has enhanced Gmail's encryption technology, to make it harder for the NSA to intercept messages.

Google has enhanced the encryption technology for its flagship email service in ways that will make it harder for the National Security Agency to intercept messages moving among the company's worldwide data centers.

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Among the most extraordinary disclosures in documents leaked by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden were reports that the NSA had secretly tapped into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world.

Google, whose executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said in November that he was outraged over the practice, didn't mention the NSA in Thursday's announcement, except in a veiled reference to "last summer's revelations." The change affects more than 425 million users of Google's Gmail service.

Yahoo has promised similar steps for its email service by this spring.

Google and other technology companies have been outspoken about the US government's spy programs. The companies are worried more people will reduce their online activities if they believe almost everything they do is being monitored by the government. A decline in Internet use could hurt the companies financially by giving them fewer opportunities to show online ads and sell other services.

"Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us," Nicolas Lidzborski, Gmail's security engineering lead, wrote in a blog post.

Lidzborski said that all Gmail messages a consumer sends or receives are now encrypted.

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Back off, NSA: Google beefs up Gmail encryption against NSA prying