Google Adds Encryption on Gmail to Protect Users from NSA

Google announced an improvement on the encryption technology for Gmail in order to protect its users from U.S National Security Agency (NSA)'s intercepting efforts.

Last year, whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked documents saying that NSA has been hacking into computers of private individuals and intercepting messages sent via communication systems connected to Yahoo and Google's data centers.

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, released a statement on November condemning this practice; however, he did not mention the federal security agency. The newly-improved encryption service will be beneficial to 425 million Gmail users.

Security engineering leader for Gmail, Nicolas Lidzborski, stated in a blog post that they value the importance of every user's email. He also explained that this change will make all sent and received emails encrypted

"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 Wi-Fi or logging in from your computer, phone or tablet," Lidzborski wrote, as reported by Sydney Morning Herald.

"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 centres - something we made a top priority after last [northern] summer's revelations."

Early January of 2013, an accounting reflected that the NSA intercepted millions of records from Yahoo and Google's networks every day, and these data were automatically transferred to a server located at Fort Meade, MD.

Yahoo, on the other hand, already mentioned about adding encryption soon.

"We will encrypt all information that moves between our data centers by the end of Q1 of 2014," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wrote in a blog post. "We will offer users an option to encrypt all data flow to/from Yahoo by the end of Q1 2014, work closely with our international Mail partners to ensure that Yahoo co-branded Mail accounts are https-enabled."