Mountain View, California — People who wish to curtail their use of Google’s Web search more secure from network sleuths now have the option of encrypting the session by entering “https://www.google.com” into their browser, juggling the connection so the words and phrases they search on, and the results that Google displays, will be protected from interception. Google has added SSL encryption to its primary search engine.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology is formulated to protect from illegitimate groups from sniffing data traveling between a user’s computer and a server. The service also uses its own Google logo, so you can be doubly sure that SSL is in place.
A post on the Official Google Blog, the company revealed relevant details, explaining that netizens now have the option of establishing a secure https connection when searching google.com. Interestingly, the post was composed by Evan Roseman, a software engineer, rather than Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel, or perhaps Marissa Mayer or even Eric Schmidt.
Just in time for the weekend and hours-long browsing sessions at home computers, the beta version of the secure Google’s Web search service has given privacy advocates a gift. The service, which begins in the United States on Friday, will be distributed gradually in the next few days to users around the world, said Murali Viswanathan, a Google search product manager.
“The service contains an altered logo to help suggest that you are searching using SSL and that you may encounter a slightly different Google search experience, but as always, remember to check the start of the address bar for “https” and your browser lock indicators,” the post reads.
In the case of Google search, had the Internet users in Europe been using Google’s encrypted search, SSL would have protected the transmission of their searches and would not have been exposed by Google’s recently disclosed inadvertent collection of wireless network traffic from public WiFi hot-spots.
“This Street View occurrence highlights just how publicly accessible open, non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks are today,” last Friday’s post reads.
In January, Google activated https:// connections for Gmail by default, having previously made it an option available to users who wanted extra security.
Google also extends SSL support as an option to its other products like Calendar, Docs, and Sites services, and quite recently, it enabled SSL to Google Web History and Google Bookmarks, after a security danger was found in the search personalization service that taps Web History. Google hopes to add https to other services as well.
Friday’s announcement makes Google the first major search engine to render this privacy-protective feature. AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft currently do not.
“Some users will want the extra privacy and security this feature will offer,” Viswanathan said in a statement. “But it is not going to be the default option, at this point. There is a lot of work to be done before we get there.”
“We think users will appreciate this new option for searching. It is a helpful addition that complements users’ online privacy and security, and we will continue to add encryption support for more search offerings,” wrote Roseman, in an official blog post.