This major encryption boost means that even Gmail can’t read your emails

Client-side encryption for Gmail and Google Calendar has left beta

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Client-sideencryption(CSE), a means of protecting and controlling access to personal or corporate data, has arrived forGmail.

In ablog postannouncing the news, the tech giant notes that, whileGoogle Workspacealready encrypts data using secure cryptographic libraries, CSE gives Workspace users and admins “total control” over their cryptographic keys and access to data.

Simply put, this should mean that no-one can read sentemailsor calendar entries but those in an organization and the recipients.

TechRadar Pro needs you!We want to build a better website for our readers, and we need your help! You can do your bit by filling outour surveyand telling us your opinions and views about the tech industry in 2023. It will only take a few minutes and all your answers will be anonymous and confidential. Thank you again for helping us make TechRadar Pro even better.

D. Athow, Managing Editor

A Gmail encryption history

AsThe Vergepoints out,Googlehas been trying to bring CSE to Gmailsince 2014.

In those halcyon days, the aftermath ofEdward Snowden’s disclosureof the US’ National Security Agency’s (NSA) totally legal and constitutional (fingers crossed behind back) surveillance programmes meant that dataprivacyprotections were on the whole world’s mind.

The leading encryption solution back then was Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), an open-source standard that had, at the time, endured for twenty years while being wholly unintuitive to an end user, who wouldn’t, for instance, be able to reset a forgotten password, because even Google wouldn’t keep them on file.

Googlemade CSE available for other Workspace applicationsin October 2022, including its Drivecloud storagesolution, Docs, Sheets and Slides, as well as its Meetvideo conferencing software.

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

CSE finally arriving for Gmail, Google Calendar, and the whole raft of Workspace apps suggests that a middle-ground has been found. Those who work in industries reliant on privacy seem optimistic about it too.

Your Gmail is permanently changing soon - here’s what to expect

Tips for boosting your organization’s security posture with encryption

We’ve also listed the best ways to share files securely

“Client-side encryption gives us the next level of privacy, to ensure integrity within the journalistic process,” said Sacha Morard, Chief Technology Officer of media conglomerate (and Google Workspace customer) Groupe Le Monde.

“This allows us to guarantee a higher level of security for our journalists, and to protect our sensitive content.”

Luke Hughes holds the role of Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro, producing news, features and deals content across topics ranging from computing to cloud services, cybersecurity, data privacy and business software.

7 myths about email security everyone should stop believing

Best Usenet client of 2024

Red One isn’t perfect but it proves we need more action-packed Christmas movies