Google urged to adopt default data encryption for Gmail
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt last week signed by 37 web security experts urged the company to enable encryption by default for the users of Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar.
Google already uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) encryption technology to protect customers' login information, which is available as an option for users of Google's webmail and other cloud-based services.
However, encryption is not enabled by default to protect data sent by users of Google Mail, Docs or Calendar. As a result, the security experts said, Google customers who use a public connection such as open wireless networks "face a very real risk of data theft and snooping."
Alma Whitten, from Google's security and privacy teams, responded on the Google public policy blog that the company is planning a trial in which it will move small samples of different types of Gmail users to HTTPS "to see what their experience is and whether it affects the performance of their email."
The group Consumer Watchdog said Google should be praised for agreeing to offer improved security but asked why the company waited so long to act.
The group is calling on other online companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and MySpace to offer the same protection.
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