Google announced that they are expanding customer access to client-side encryption in Gmail. The company encouraged Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education standard customers to apply for the beta until January 20th, 2023.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 25: Matias Durante, Vice President, Design at Google, speaks on stage during the Google I/O Developers Conference at Moscone Center on June 25, 2014 in San Francisco, California. The seventh annual Google I/O Developers conference is expected to draw thousands through June 26. Stephen Lam/Getty Images
(Photo : Stephen Lam/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 25: Matias Durante, Vice President, Design at Google, speaks on stage during the Google I/O Developers Conference at Moscone Center on June 25, 2014 in San Francisco, California. The seventh annual Google I/O Developers conference is expected to draw thousands through June 26.
Gmail's Client-Side Encryption
In an announcement from Google Workspace Updates, Gmail has launched beta testing for its client-side encryption (CSE). Through this feature, sensitive data and attachments will be unreadable to the admins and the company, as the receiver of the email will only have access to it.
Users will have an additional option when using the web version of Gmail once the feature is enabled for their account. By clicking on the padlock symbol, Google will let them choose to turn on additional encryption for the message. Unfortunately, some features will not be supported when this feature is enabled, such as the ability to use emojis, a signature, and Smart Compose.
Google stated on its blog that it "used the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our facilities." This will help the company to strengthen the confidentiality of the users' data while addressing a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs.
CSE is very important, especially if the organization prioritizes privacy and regulatory compliance. If the organization works with extremely sensitive intellectual property and operates in a highly regulated industry, this feature will be able to protect these without using any third-party applications.
Availability
Once the eligible Workspace customers apply for the beta, The Verge reported that the Client-side encryption will be available for Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, and Google Calendar. Although this feature is off by default and users have to enable the feature first to utilize it.
Client-Side Encryption beta feature will not be available to Personal Google accounts, Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Enabling the Feature for Admins
To get started, admins and end users will have different processes for enabling this feature. For admins, the feature can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels, where they can create client-side encrypted content and share it internally or externally.
Google has been working on adding encryption to the Gmail application since 2014. While this may not be news to everyone, this is not exactly the same thing for the previous ones, like end-to-end encryptions. Client-End Encryption gives administrators control over the keys and still lets them monitor the users' encrypted files.
As per Google Support, CSE will be available for other Google services in a later release.
