How secure is Email? Google can tell you.

Google, on its official blog, released a report Tuesday, explaining the importance of email message security. The posting used the example of a postcard verses a sealed envelope to describe an unsecured verses a secured email.

“Email works in a similar way(to postcards and letters). Emails that are encrypted as they’re routed from sender to receiver are like sealed envelopes, and less vulnerable to snooping—whether by bad actors or through government surveillance—than postcards.”

This graphic shows the importance that Google sees in messages being encrypted in transit. This graphic indicates that 65% of email in the last thirty days from Gmail to other providers was encrypted. In contrast, they mention that 50% of messages from other providers to Gmail was encrypted.

The post went on to note that in terms of cyber security, “Google can’t do it alone,” they need others email providers on board to help. There is a lot of data available from Google on this and similar topics in its transparency report.