GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Filtered by: Hashtag
Hashtag
Facebook adds PGP encryption to protect emails from spies
Facebook is giving its users yet another layer of protection from snoops and spies - by allowing them to add OpenPGP encryption to their emails.
In a blog post, Facebook said that while it has adopted tight encryption technologies for its site, people also receive information from Facebook over other channels like email.
"To enhance the privacy of this email content, today we are gradually rolling out an experimental new feature that enables people to add OpenPGP public keys to their profile; these keys can be used to 'end-to-end' encrypt notification emails sent from Facebook to your preferred email accounts," it said.
"People may also choose to share OpenPGP keys from their profile, with or without enabling encrypted notifications," it added.
Facebook pointed out it already runs connections to its site over HTTPS with HSTS, and provides a Tor onion site for people who want more security other than HTTPS.
Yet, it said these technologies protect only the direct connections people make to Facebook.
"(While) Facebook seeks to secure connections to your email provider with TLS, the stored content of those messages may be accessible as plaintext (with attachments) to anyone who accesses your email provider or email account," it said.
Not foolproof
A separate article on Mashable said notification emails from Facebook usually include the content of the message.
However, Mashable added this new tool is not fully fool-proof, as someone who finds a user's private key by phishing, or gains access to a user's computer could still read private emails.
"But by giving users the option to add a PGP key to their pages, it gives that standard much more visibility and could go a long way toward making stronger security a priority for more people on the web," it said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News
Find out your candidates' profile
Find the latest news
Find out individual candidate platforms
Choose your candidates and print out your selection.
Voter Demographics
