When Yahoo Mail has a new feature, you know the sea has changed. This week Yahoo announced they’re working on a browser plugin to enable end to end mail encryption. You can watch a video demo on Yahoo’s Tumblr page.
What does this mean? Well, a few years ago, mail providers started enabling SSL encryption for users in their webmail inboxes online. This was a step in the right direction. The problem is that mail travels; it goes from inbox to inbox, and often from online message storage servers to local computer programs. There’s no way that encryption on a single website could keep an email safe at all the stages of its journey.
With a browser plugin for both the sender and receiver, though – like the open-source one Yahoo is developing – total message encryption can become a reality.
By Sharon Campbell