Google Has A New Gmail Feature In Pipeline Which Will Alert Users Of Unencrypted Messages

Google is reportedly working on a new Gmail feature that will send out a warning message to users whenever an email is received from an unencrypted source.

"To notify our users of potential dangers, we are developing in-product warnings for Gmail users that will display when they receive a message through a non-encrypted connection," Elie Bursztein and Nicolas Lidzborski of the Gmail security team noted in a blog post, according to PCMagazine.

"These warnings will begin to roll-out in the coming months." 

Google's Gmail already relies on an HTTPS connection as default for communication between a browser and its servers. However, when a mail is sent and received between two different email providers, the message is left unencrypted, which makes it vulnerable for attacks.

"Many email providers don't encrypt messages while they're in transit. When you send or receive emails with one of these providers, these messages are as open to snoopers as a postcard in the mail," said Google in a blog post.

The new feature will warn Gmail users before opening an unencrypted mail, reported TheVerge.

Google announced the new feature along with results of a multi-year study that measured the evolution of email security. The study was conducted in partnership with the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois.

The study found the number of encrypted emails that Gmail received from other senders increased to 61 percent from 33 percent since 2013. Emails sent from Gmail to other providers are encrypted 82 percent of the time whereas emails sent from a Gmail address to another Gmail address are always encrypted, reported TechTimes.

The study identified new security challenges as well. Some regions of the Internet were found to be interfering with message encryption by tampering with requests to initiate SSL connections.

The search giant also uncovered malicious DNS servers publishing fake routing information to email servers, allowing attackers to censor or alter messages before they arrive in a user's inbox.

Google is expected to roll out the new messaging alert system in the coming weeks.