Okay Geek Farm
Google Makes "https://" Default for Gmail Security
Ricardo Trejo
You may or may not have noticed yet, but on the top right hand corner of your Gmail page there's a link by your name that now says "More Gmail security". What's this all about and why should you care? Well, y'know that little lock you see on the bottom corner sometimes when you go to checkout of stores like Amazon or Newegg - that picture means that the information traveling between your computer and its destination is being encrypted, jumbled up into random 0's and 1's to help better protect you from people you don't want getting into your business. Google just made every single one of your email sessions require that type of security, and here's their explanation on the matter.
HTTPS encryption keeps your mail secure as it travels between your web browser and Gmail servers, so someone sharing your favorite coffee shop's public wifi can't maliciously read it. Banks and credit card companies use this same protocol to keep your online accounts safe. To protect your Gmail account, we've turned on the option to "always use HTTPS" for everyone. This added layer of security can make Gmail slower, so if you don't use unencrypted wireless connections, you can choose to disable this option in your account Settings. Even if you change this setting, Gmail will always encrypt the login page to protect your password. Learn more
This all is going down just a day after Google released information on how they plan to deal with China, and the recent investigation of the sophisticated cyber attacks that originated from there. Google as a company has always been ready to stand for their users at a moment's notice, so I'm glad they've come out and added this extra layer between us and not-so-innocent minded hackers.
