Google has just announced that users of Google Workspace and Education will get end-to-end encryption on the web using their Gmail account. Google already offers end-to-end encryption for Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Calendar. However, it was not available for Gmail. According to the company, end-to-end encryption ensures that sensitive data in email bodies and attachments are impenetrable to Google’s servers. Clients retain control of the encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys.
Google Introduces end-to-end Encryption for Gmail on the web
You can apply for beta access to test the new feature over the next few weeks. To turn on end-to-end encryption, beta users can go to Security > Client-Side Encryption, then click Gmail and select the group posted on their Gmail CSE signup form. If you are not a beta user, you will have to wait until this feature is fully available.
Google also revealed that the sender and all recipients must have end-to-end encryption and valid certificates. If any recipient is missing a valid certificate, the sender cannot send them an email.
It should be noted that Apple recently released iOS 16.2 and macOS 13.1 with advanced data protection for iPhone, iPad and Mac. However, iCloud Mail does not use end-to-end encryption because it needs to work with the global email system. On the other hand, Google is leading the competition by introducing end-to-end encryption for Gmail web.