Google now not allows Gmail users to show off HTTPS encryption. The move protects data going between Google’s servers and users.

Moving to revive trust in cloud computing services, Google said Thursday that it has made encrypted HTTPS connections mandatory for Gmail.

“Today’s change implies that nobody can snoop on your messages as they commute between you and Gmail’s servers — whether you’re using public WiFi or logging in out of your computer, phone or tablet,” Nicolas Lidzborski, Google security engineering lead, wrote in a blog post.

The company turned HTTPS on by default in 2010. From then formerly, users were ready to disable it — for the sake of marginal speed gains or compatibility — but not.

Google has long been on the forefront of online security, partially out of necessity, since it is usually targeted by hackers. It was among the first online companies to introduce two-step authentication. And it says Google Apps for presidency was the primary set of cloud computing apps to receive Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification from the u. s. government. (Microsoft disputed this in 2011, and Google said Microsoft’s allegations were false.)

[Take control of your privacy on Google. Read 5 Google Opt-Out Settings To ascertain.]

Lidzborski wrote that every one messages Gmail users send or receive are actually encrypted when moving internally. “This ensures that your messages are safe not just once they move between you and Gmail’s servers, but additionally as they move between Google’s data centers — something we made a top priority after last summer’s revelations.”

The revelations at issue are those who arose from the NSA documents revealed by Edward Snowden. They have got called into question the safety of cloud computing and feature prompted some companies to reconsider their commitment to 3rd-party hosting.

Mandatory HTTPS connections might secure data in transit between Google’s servers and its customers, however shouldn’t be mistaken for true end-to-end encryption. Google’s Gmail algorithms can still read Gmail text to serve ads. And the corporate can still access Gmail messages if ordered to take action by a court or at its discretion, as Microsoft did recently when it looked during the communications of a Hotmail-using blogger to spot an employee who allegedly leaked Windows source code to the blogger. However, given the outcry over Microsoft taking such action with out a court order, it’s doubtful Google is keen to avail itself of the access rights it has under its terms of service agreement.

Lidzborski also wrote that Gmail was up and running 99.978% of last year, which goes out to a standard downtime of 2 hours for every user during that period.

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Thomas Claburn was writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications comparable to New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and tv, having earned a not particularly useful … View Full Bio

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