Gmail to get end-to-end encryption soon; Find details

Google has finally announced the most anticipated feature for its email services. Google is adding end-to-end encryption to your Gmail on the web to improve privacy and make email deliveries safer and more secure. The feature is available in beta and is available for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard, i.e. normal education accounts.

In its recent blog post-Google, announced that all of its business users are eligible to sign up for the Gmail client-side encryption beta through January 20, 2022. New client-side encryption for the web from Gmail will make the user's data and attachments encrypted and unreadable. to any third party, including Google itself. That means all sensitive user data in emails with attachments will be more secure.

"Using client-side encryption in Gmail ensures sensitive data in the email body and attachments are indecipherable to Google servers. Customers retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access them, " says Google in its blog.

Why end-to-end encryption in Gmail is useful

End-to-end encryption in Gmail will make sure that users' email messages are encrypted by the sender and only the intended recipient can decrypt them on their device. No third person, organization or even the email server Google can decrypt or read the messages and attachments sent with the email.

Notably, Google already provides client-side encryption in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Google Meet, and Google Calendar (beta). Now along with the feature available to Workspace users. The individual users need to wait a bit to get the feature for personal Gmail accounts.

In the meantime, once your workspace users sign up for client-side encryption, they'll be able to send and receive encrypted email inside or outside your domain. Google further clarifies that the entire email body and attachments, including inline images, will be encrypted with the new feature. However, Google will not encrypt the email header, including the subject, timestamps, and recipient lists.

How to start end-to-end encryption in Gmail

The client-side encryption feature is only available to users who sign up for the beta version. Once business users join the beta program, the feature will be available but disabled by default. To enable end-to-end encryption at the domain, OU, and group levels, users must go to Admin console > Security > Data and access control > Client-side encryption.

Also, to add client-side encryption to any mail, users can click on the lock icon on the side of the message window. Then select additional encryption and compose your message and add attachments as usual.

Google has also announced that it will bring client-side encryption to its Gmail app for Android and iOS "in a future release."