Google is widely rolling out client-side encryption (CSE) for Gmail. The new privacy feature is available for all organizations on a Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, or Education Standard plan. Users with personal Google accounts or on other Workspace plans aren’t getting it, at least not just yet.
Google has been testing CSE for Gmail for the past few months. It released the feature in beta for users on the aforementioned three Workspace plans in December last year. This came after the company rolled out CSE widely for Google Drive, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Meet. The tech biggie also expanded the privacy feature to Google Calendar a couple of weeks back. Eligible Gmail users are now getting it as well.
CSE adds another layer of protection to Google’s already secure Workspace service. As the company explains, “Workspace already encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries”. But with CSE, customers have “sole control” over their encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys. The email body and attachments are indecipherable to Google servers as well as other external entities. Google says this gives customers “complete control over access to their data.”
Google brings client-side encryption to all eligible Gmail users
Client-side encryption gives “organizations higher confidence that any third party, including Google and foreign governments, cannot access their confidential data,” Google wrote in a blog post announcing the general availability of CSE for Gmail. The feature is already available for all eligible users irrespective of whether they are on Rapid Release or Scheduled Release domain. However, it isn’t enabled by default. Admins have to manually enable it at the domain, OU, and Group levels. This can be done by going to Admin console > Security > Access and data control > Client-side encryption.
Once CSE is enabled by your Workspace admin, you can add client-side encryption to any email by clicking the lock icon at the right end of the “To” field. Here, you can “Turn on” Additional encryption and you’re good to go. You can then proceed to compose your message and add attachments as you normally do. Google will take care of the rest. The company says that the experience will not change for users who were already taking advantage of this feature in beta. For everyone else, these few extra clicks will greatly elevate the security of your email and attachments.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com