Microsoft adds encryption to its email and cloud storage services

Traffic into and out of Microsoft’s Outlook.com email service will now be encrypted, as long as the other end also supports encryption. Both Outlook.com and OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service, now use random keys that are generated for each session.

That last change is a strong indication that Microsoft’s motivation in making these changes is to regain public trust in the wake of Snowden’s revelations. The NSA and other law enforcement agencies can only read encrypted communication if they obtain the encryption keys, and now those keys are temporary and disappear after use.

Ars Technica has additional details.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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