Yahoo is making efforts to win over its users by adding extra layers of protection to secure their data from hackers and the National Security Agency.
Edward Snowden's revelations about leading technology companies such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple giving away users' personal information to the U.S. government under a controlled program called PRISM outraged many consumers . But these tech companies are making an effort to guarantee data protection to its users . Google started encrypting its Gmail service in 2010, and promised to extend it to its data centers. The web giant, however, hasn't confirmed the success of its encryption program, but earlier this month a Google engineer said in his Google+ account that it has been completed.
Yahoo has been on an expansion spree and has been upgrading and modifying its services of late, but the most recent move suggests the company is also concerned about the safety of its users' information. After Snowden's revelations, Yahoo declined to share any user information with NSA or any other government organization. The Sunnyvale company plans to take no chances with its users' personal data, hence it is adding extra security to assure its users about their data safety.
"As you know, there have been a number of reports over the last six months about the U.S. government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies, including Yahoo," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wrote in a Monday post on the company's Tumblr blog. "I want to reiterate what we have said the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or any other government agency. Ever."
Yahoo will enhance its level of security by introducing a secure SSL encryption, "https," to its Yahoo Mail with a 2048-bit key across the network by January. The company's plans also include encrypting all information moving in and out of its data centers by the end of first quarter next year, and give its users the power to control it.
"As we have said before, we will continue to evaluate how we can protect our users' privacy and their data. We appreciate, and certainly do not take for granted, the trust our users place in us," Mayer concluded.
