Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said that it has almost completed the end-to-end encryption across its entire platform to block government snooping. Gregg Stefancik, chief of security infrastructure at Facebook, told media during a visit to Australia that the social networking giant is working to make all its communications secure, and the project will soon be completed.
Facebook has been working on encryption even before Snowden’s revelations
Stefancik said the company has prioritized encrypting the traffic that is most sensitive. He said Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is working aggressively to reach the point where it can tell users that every is encrypted between data centers. Revelations by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden validated numerous things that the Menlo Park-based company knew it needed to protect against. Mr. Stefancik said the company has been working on encrypting data and communications even before Snowden’s revelations.
The Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) security infrastructure executive said that encryption is easy to talk out and easy to control. But it’s damn hard to deploy. There are compatibility issues and performance implications. He reassured Facebook users that its app is not storing or listening into conversations. The encryption technology transforms the text into coding that can’t be read until it arrives the destination.
Other Internet giants already use encryption
Email service providers Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have also started encrypting emails to protect their users’ online communications from government spies. Google and others now automatically encrypt all email. They rely on Transport Layer Security or TLS to encrypt the emails. However, not all Internet companies have started using the encryption technology. Google said Tuesday that about 65% of emails sent by Gmail users are encrypted when delivered. That means about 35% of users’ email providers don’t support the encryption technology.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares gained 0.78% to $63.36 at 1:36 PM EDT on Wednesday.
