Gmail moves to encrypt all emails by default

Google has increased Gmail security by switching on the option for all emails to be encrypted, even if you're just moving them around your inbox or between Google servers.

Previously, only emails sent to you were encrypted, but the company has revealed any data moving between different Google servers or datacentres will be secured.

Nicolas Lidzborski, Gmail security engineering lead at Google explained in the blog post, "Today's change means that no one can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between you and Gmail's serversno matter if you're using public WiFi or logging in from your computer, phone or tablet."

The company decided to update its security as a "a top priority after last summer's revelation."

Google is referring to the interception of messages by the NSA, which the security agency dubbed Project Muscular.

It was revealed in October 2013 that the NSA had processed 181,280,466 records stored by Google and Yahoo, including the text, audio and video content within emails.

David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer said at the time, "We have long been concerned about the possibility of this kind of snooping, which is why we have continued to extend encryption across more and more Google services and links We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform."

Google also revealed its Gmail service was available 99.978 per cent of the time in 2013, but the company is committed to ensuring this two hours of downtime across the whole year stays low.

"Our engineering experts look after Google's services 24x7 and if a problem ever arises, they're on the case immediately. We keep you informed by posting updates on the Apps Status Dashboard until the issue is fixed, and we always conduct a full analysis on the problem to prevent it from happening again," said Lidzborski