The Latest in IT Security

Google stepped up its effort Wednesday to make it tougher for spies or anyone else to snoop on email, unveiling Chrome browser software for scrambling digital messages. A test version of a software tool called End-to-End was released so Internet engineers can dabble with making mini-programs that plug into Chrome browser and encrypt Gmail messages in ways that shield them from eyes of everyone except senders and recipients. Emails that are encrypted as theyre routed from sender to receiver are liked sealed envelopes, and less vulnerable to snooping — whether by bad actors or through government surveillance — than postcards, Gmail delivery team tech lead Brandon Long said in a blog post. Along with releasing the encryption tool, Google added a section to its Transparency Report showing what portion of Gmail messages were sent wrapped in encryption and similar information for digital missives received from other email services.