2 weeks Ago By Laurent Giret
Gmail is turning 21 today, and Google is . Starting today, Google is rolling out a seamless way for enterprise users to send encrypted emails to others, starting with people in the same organization. As of today, Gmail already uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) to communicate with other email service providers, and it also supports sending end-to-end encrypted emails using the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME).
However, implementing the latter is quite complex and requires some training for both senders and receivers. While there are proprietary alternatives to S/MIME, they’re also difficult to implement and have other drawbacks. Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.
99) as a special welcome gift! To allow Gmail users to send encrypted emails to any inbox with just a few clicks, Google is leveraging , which encrypts data in the client’s browser before any data is transmitted or stored in Google’s servers. With CSE, encryption keys are stored in a cloud-based key management service that administrators control. Please note that this technology is different from end-to-end encryption, where encryption keys are generated on the client without any administrator control.
“Email messages are encrypted with just a few clicks in Gmail regardless of who they are being sent to — no need for end users to exchange certificates or use custom software,” the company explained. “The emails are protected using encryption keys controlled by the customer and not available to Google servers, providing enhanced data privacy and security. And the IT team no longer needs to go through the complex S/MIME setup or certificate management.
” In practice, when Gmail enterprise users send encrypted emails to other users in the same organization, these emails will be automatically decrypted in the recipient’s inbox. In the coming weeks, any Gmail inbox will also be able to receive and decrypt these emails. Later this year, Gmail users will also be able to seamlessly send encrypted emails to non-Gmail inboxes.
In that case, the recipients will receive a link to view and reply to the encrypted email in a guest Google Workspace account. Organizations interested in getting early access to encrypted emails in Gmail with client-side encryption can sign up on . Laurent is a Senior News Editor at Thurrott.
com. He's been writing about the technology industry for almost 10 years, and his favorite topics to cover include Big Tech, media, and gaming. He also was the Editorial Manager of the from 2022 to 2023.
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