Microsoft Unveils New Webmail Encryption

Microsoft has recently pulled back the curtain on its implementation of tougher encryption standards for Web-based email and some cloud services. In the works for more than six months, Microsoft has now activated Transport Layer Security encryption (TLS) for its webmail services at Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Live.com and MSN.com. This encryption makes it much harder for email originating from and being sent to a Microsoft account to be spied on, as long as the connecting email service also uses TLS. Microsoft also activated Perfect Forward Secrecy encryption (PFS) for its cloud storage service OneDrive. The OneDrive website, OneDrive mobile apps, and OneDrive syncing tools will now all use the tougher PFS encryption standard, which protects user confidentiality even when a third-party is eavesdropping on the network. And finally, Microsoft has opened a “transparency center” at its headquarters in Redmond, WA, where governments can review Microsoft source code for “key products” to confirm that no hidden backdoors have been added to the software. All these changes have come just a few weeks after a well-publicized Google webmail report that displayed Microsoft in less than flattering colors. Google scored Microsoft, along with ComCast and Apple, as webmail providers with inadequate levels of encryption to protect their users’ email. For more information about the new webmail encryption, click on this link here.