Wednesday, September 05, 2007

privacy with Google

Many people are using Google applications like Gmail, Docs and Calendar to store and transmit confidential information. However many are not aware that using such apps over networks that are routinely monitored (e.g. your employer's network) may expose that information.

That's because by default people use the plain "http" URI scheme when accessing Google's apps. As a result the information between your browser and Google's server flows in clear.

A straightforward solution is to use the "https" scheme, which results in the same information flowing encrypted using SSL/TLS, providing much better security.

I tried some of the apps I use and it works well (e.g. https://www.gmail.com, https://docs.google.com, https://www.google.com/calendar)

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