Over the past few months the world has gained considerable insight into the clandestine data collection operations of the National Security Agency, courtesy of former CIA analyst Edward Snowden. A number of major companies were named in those leaked top secret documents, companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and more. A cache of documents recently leaked by Snowden alleged that the NSA is capable of tapping into Google and Yahoo’s data centers without the companies knowing about it. Today, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer reiterated what she has said multiple times in the past, that “Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever.”
Mayer also announced that Yahoo will encrypt all data flowing between its data centers by the end of Q1, 2014 and it will also offer users the option to encrypt data from to and from Yahoo servers. The company will also work with its international mail partners to make sure that Yahoo co-branded email accounts are https-enabled. The move comes after Yahoo’s recent announcement of adding 2048-bit SSL encryption across its email network by January 8, 2014. It can’t be said for sure though if these steps will make your data NSA proof, the agency is rumored to have the capability to passively decrypt data that’s SSL-protected.
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