Gwebs Cryptographer

I guess most of the people have been following the news about “Bank screws up and sues Google”, which is very interesting news related to Email security. When I read this news at the first time, I just shaked my head and thought “This can only happen in USA”. And the worst thing here was that those emails were not secured at all, just basic emails full of customers’ private data.

I really cannot understand about the result that Judge orders Google to deactivate some random users accounts because of someone made a mistake, humane mistake. Especially one, whom these random users are not related to. I can say that I might go crazy if one day my email is de-activated without noticing it before, just because someone has sent some email to my email address which doesn’t belong to me.

The situation is easy to compare to non-digital world. Let’s think that post is delivering to your postbox someones bank statements, without being in a letter. Just papers to your postbox, will you feel safe ? Will you think that is that the common policy of this bank ? Anyone can read that information on the way, the staff at post office, the delivery guy and anyone who is just on the way. Will you also consider that it’s reasonable that the Bank will sue the owner of your postbox, because they made the mistake ? And even worse, do you think that it’s reasonable that they will vanish/seal up your postbox, ’cause there is some information that doesn’t belong to you.

For me, this all sounds so ridiculous. If someone needs to be sued or punished the person will be within the bank staff. Also I really feel unsafe for this bank, that they didn’t use any encryption for those emails. Anyway, I assume that they are using letters when posting bank statements to their customers, so why not using encryption when data is in digital form ?

Luckily, I’m not a customer of this bank, and I feel safe with my own bank accounts. Banks that I’m using are really investing money for security and also offering the best service for their customers. Of course the situation is currently better in Europe than it is in Asia, but Asia is growing fast, very fast. About USA I really cannot say, I always feel unsafe about money issues there. The credit card policies are so loose and all the security issues seemed to be popping up all the time. I guess it’s only the matter of time that people are getting annoyed for so bad and unsecured service.

But luckily on the mean time suing in US is so easy and convenient so why not suing everybody and make people suffer about mistakes, maybe the ones they couldn’t prevent at all, ’cause that’s what it’s all about. I’m really happy about Google’s services so far, but this case is just a bad example how vulnerable this huge company is also for crazy laws and policies in US.

Although, I don’t know where is better, maybe in Europe. I’m currently living in China and getting so frustrated about governmental actions to limit access to “out there”, I mean the Chinese Great Firewall (GFW) is really bugging my nerves all the time. But that’s another story.

Here is the case file for you to make your own judgement “The Rocky Mountain Bank Vs. Google” (pdf-file).

Security, email, encryption, google, privacy bank, email, encryption, google, privacy, Security

Google just proved that it’s never too late to introduce great features.

I have been using Gmail to send myself notes and to do’s forever. I just write myself an email and save it as a draft. MailCloak even lets me keep my drafts encrypted… but now Google has finally added tasks to Gmail, so I’ll be upgrading my habits accordingly.

The good news:

Google tasks is fast, easy, and powerful.

Features include multiple lists, pop-out windows, useful tool-tips, integration with calendar, keyboard navigation, and probably a lot more I have’nt even found yet!

The bad news:

It takes a lot of screen real estate. And it’s not always easy to find.

Also, surprisingly, there’s no integration with email or google apps other then calendar, but maybe that’s a good thing.  A to do list is a to do list (K.I.S.S.).

That’s it. This is a small feature, so I’m gonna keep this review short.

email, google gmail, google, tasks

Sometimes you send and receive important email.

Do you know who is watching?

Your email can be viewed by anyone with access to the systems it passes through.

Check out this new video, and then start protecting your email!

MailCloak is compatable with dozens of email services. To learn more, check out Global Web Security’s Offical Website!

PGP, Security, email, encryption, privacy Email Encryption, global web security, gmail, gmail encryption, google, hackers, MailCloak, msn, protection, safety, Security, Video, yahoo

I Just came across this article on why you should encrypt all your Google activities. The author notes that Google, like most other sites, doesn’t encrypt your connection data…

Google, like most other similar services, encrypts login traffic but not your content. So the moment you’re signed in they switch to plain-text communications and send everything to you in the open.

This means your mail, the news sources you read, your calendar events — are all able to be read by someone with access to any part of the network between you and Google. This could be your employer at work, the wireless network at your local coffee shop, whatever. This isn’t good.

And his commentors note a few things you can do about it:

1) log in to https://mail.google.com/mail (note the httpS://, the s stands for SSL)

2) Install the “Customize Google” Firefox Add-On to force the use of https for all google services. Also check out “Better gCal,”  and “Better GMail 2”

3) One user suggested  Google Secure Pro.

Security, email, google, privacy email, encryption, google, software