Providing that you operate in a sector that goes through very sensitive information, i.e., the healthcare sector, finance, or the government, you must have come across the challenges of secure mobile communication. In many cases, decoding or emailing an encrypted mail on your phone has involved leaping through loops, downloading third-party applications or accessing ponderous web portals.
Google is at last breaking the end of that friction. Google is introducing native Client-side encryption (CSE) in the Gmail app on mobile devices in a new update to the Workspace.
What is Client-side encryption?
Compared to normal encryption, where Google still has the keys to assist in some of the tasks such as spam filtering and search, CSE makes sure that the encryption keys are under the control of only your organization. This implies that the information is coded prior to it even being received by Google servers and so it is practically impossible to have someone outside your company to access the contents of your messages.
How it works on your phone
The most favorable thing about this update is the integration. You need not alter your Gmail usage.
Native Composition: When composing a new email, you simply press the lock icon allowing you to use additional encryption.
Attachment Support: You can attach files as you would normally and they are added to the end-to-end encrypted wrap.
Recipient Flexibility: These encrypted messages can be sent to anyone. In case the recipient is using the Gmail app as well, it will be displayed as a typical thread. Otherwise, they will be redirected to a secure mobile-friendly browser that allows them to read and respond without having to create a Google account.
Who is this for?
This is not a capability of all non-technical users of Gmail. Currently, Native E2EE mobile can be offered to Enterprise Plus customers with the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on. The Android and iOS clients will not be automatically enabled in the CSE admin interface, and users will not be able to see the new lock icon in their apps until admins manually enable them.
With the increasing numbers of Pro-like features such as this being transferred to our pockets, it is becoming apparent that Google is intent on making the mobile workspace as secure as the office.
