Service Client-Side Encryption (CSE), a way to secure and monitor access to personal or corporate data, has come to Gmail.
In a weblog post (opens in a new tab) announcing the new one, the tech giant notes that while Google Workspace already encrypts data through strong cryptographic libraries, CSE gives Workspace users and administrators "control total" about your cryptographic keys and access to data.
In simple terms, this should mean that absolutely no one can read sent emails or calendar entries except those in an organization and the recipients.
A history of Gmail encryption
As The Verge points out (opens in a new tab), Google has been trying to integrate CSE with Gmail since XNUMX (opens in a new tab).
In those halcyon days, the fallout from Edward Snowden's disclosure of the US National Security Agency's (NSA) fully legal and constitutional surveillance programs meant data privacy protection was on the mind. of the planet.
The primary encryption solution at that time was Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), an open source standard that at that time had been maintained for twenty years and was totally unintuitive for an end user, who couldn't, for the sake of us, For example, restore a forgotten password. , since not even Google would keep them archived.
Google made CSE free for other Workspace apps in October XNUMX, including its Drive cloud storage solution, Docs, Sheets & Slides, and Meet video conferencing software.
CSE finally arriving for Gmail, Google Calendar and the entire suite of Workspace apps suggests common ground has been found. Those who work in industries that depend on privacy seem optimistic in this regard as well.
"Client-side encryption of the service gives us a higher level of privacy to ensure the integrity of the journalistic process," said Sacha Morard, CTO at media conglomerate (and Google Workspace service customer) Groupe Le Monde.
"This allows us to ensure a higher level of security for our reporters and safeguard our sensitive content."