As of now, Gmail will “always use an encrypted HTTPS connection” whenever a user checks or sends mail.
Back in July, 2013, something called Prism was unveiled by NSA whistleblowers, revealing that the NSA has been harvesting user data from the likes of Gmail, Facebook, Apple and more. In direct response to that, Google has been hard at work making Gmail secure enough to withstand future harvesting attempts. It has now announced that from today, Gmail will “always use an encrypted HTTPS connection” whenever a user checks or sends mail.
“Today’s change means that no one can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between you and Gmail’s servers-no matter if you’re using public WiFi or logging in from your computer, phone or tablet,” Google explained.
“In addition, every single email message you send or receive-100% of them-is encrypted while moving internally,” it added. “This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail’s servers, but also as they move between Google’s data centers.”
Google says that securing its customers Gmail emails was “made a top priority” after “last summer’s revelations,” stressing that “Our commitment to the security and reliability of your email is absolute, and we’re constantly working on ways to improve.”
The company also announced that Gmail had a 99.978% up-time for 2013, meaning that the average user was only unable to access their account for just two hours in the whole year. “Our engineering experts look after Google’s services 24×7 and if a problem ever arises, they’re on the case immediately.”
Source: Google via TechCrunch
