Google responds to Gmail privacy concerns: 'we're not reading your emails'

Gmail icon with notification

Another day, another privacy concern. Following a Wall Street Journal story about the access third party apps have to Gmail data, we wrote about how to stop it. While the WSJ did not really make any major new revelations, it did manage to reignite the conversation about privacy, and Google has responded to storm that has built up around it.

The company has used a blog post to respond to the concerns raised by the Wall Street Journal, insisting that it carefully vets any third party that has access to sensitive data. The task has been left to Suzanne Frey -- director of security, trust and privacy at Google Cloud -- to limit the damage caused by the article.

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Dashlane launches scanning tool to help you protect online accounts

Login screen

We all sign up to online accounts for various things but over time it can become hard to remember which address you used for each site, what password you used or indeed whether you’ve previously signed up to a site at all.

Password management specialist Dashlane is launching a new feature for mobile users of its password manager called Inbox Security Scan, to give people an insight into the current state of their online accounts.

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Privacy group EFF announces STARTTLS Everywhere to secure emails with hop-to-hop -- but not end-to-end -- encryption

EFF STARTTLS

When it comes to messaging tools, people have started to show greater interest in whether encryption is used for security, and the same for websites -- but not so much with email. Thanks to the work of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, however, email security is being placed at the top of the agenda.

The privacy group today announces STARTTLS Everywhere, its new initiative to improve the security of the email eco-system. STARTTLS is an addition to SMTP, and while it does not add end-to-end encryption, it does provide hop-to-hop encryption, which is very much a step in the right direction.

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Mixmax Gmail-enhancer gets even better with new GDPR-focused features

mixmaxmain

Gmail is a great tool for personal email, but for business, not so much. Don't get me wrong, some organizations use it with great success, but overall, it is a bit weak. If you are a professional that uses Gmail, please know there is a really cool tool to enhance the service -- Mixmax.

If you aren't familiar, Mixmax leverages a special Chrome plugin to breathe new life into Google's email service -- we reported on it back in 2015. It lets you do things like track email engagement, more easily schedule meetings, and embed presentations, to name a few. It can even integrate with popular services like GitHub, Dropbox, and Salesforce. Mixmax is used by some very reputable companies too, such as Google, LinkedIn, and Uber.

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Ghostery makes a huge privacy gaffe when emailing customers about GDPR

Ghostery on a smartphone

Ghostery is a company rooted in privacy, so that the firm should accidentally reveal users' email addresses would come as something of a surprise. Over the weekend, however, this is exactly what happened.

The company -- as many others have been doing recently -- emailed its users with details of its updated privacy policy that complies with GDPR. Unfortunately, the message exposed the email addresses of hundreds of customers as the company failed to make use of the BCC field.

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Email fraud still a significant threat to businesses

Email fraud

Not so long ago the idea of email fraud mainly involved Nigerian princes asking for your help to liberate a few million dollars.

Things have moved on and the scammers have become more sophisticated, but email fraud is no less of a threat according to a new study by email security specialist Agari, which studied activity on 78 criminal email accounts over a period of 10 months.

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Upcoming Gmail redesign will also herald the arrival of self-destructing emails

Glowing Gmail icon

Just a few days ago we reported about the upcoming redesign of Gmail on the web. Delving further into the redesign we find that there are new features, including self-destructing emails.

With a new "Confidential Mode", Gmail will not only give users the ability to set an expiry date for the emails they send to people, but also put restrictions on messages to prevent them from being printed or forwarded.

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More than 44 percent of businesses fall victim to email account takeovers

Email attack

Targeted attacks launched via a compromised account were the most successful email attack vector in the past 12 months according to new research.

The study carried out for email security company Agari by Osterman Research reveals that 44 percent of organizations have been victims of a successful ATO-based attack.

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Google is ready to roll out Gmail redesign, adding new features like Smart Reply and snooze

Glowing Gmail icon

Google has emailed G Suite administrators, notifying them that a "fresh, clean look" is coming to Gmail in a redesign.

Due to roll out to the Early Adopter Program "in the coming weeks", the update affects the look of the web version of Gmail. In addition to the new look, the update also brings some new features including the snoozing of emails, and a Smart Reply function.

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Google is bringing AMP to Gmail, promising dynamic emails with interactive content

Gmail on smartphone

Google has launched a developer preview of AMP for Email, bringing its Accelerated Mobile Pages feature to Gmail. The aim is modernize email, allowing for the creation of messages with interactive, dynamic content.

In practice what this means is that emails could be updated with new information if details change, and that it will be possible to fill out forms and so on without leaving your inbox. There are already a number of big names getting involved -- including Pinterest and Booking.com -- and more will use the open source tool.

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How GDPR will affect your email archiving [Q&A]

Archive

The arrival of GDPR is set to impact on many aspects of commercial operation, not least email. But what about old emails that are stored or archived?

We spoke to Marc French, chief trust officer at cloud email specialist Mimecast to find out more about GDPR and an aspect that organizations may have overlooked.

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Email security: A year in review

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2017 was an eventful year in the world of email and cybersecurity. Large companies made headlines in 2017, falling victim to cyber attacks and data breaches that compromised millions of customer records. Email harassment and invasion of privacy tactics also rose to prominence in 2017.

Through it all, email has showcased its staying power and the ability to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of personal and business communications.

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Email is still the preferred channel for marketers

Email magic

Despite digital disruption and the emergence of newer technologies, email is still the preferred channel for marketers according to a new report.

Email marketing brand Campaigner has released the results of its Digital Marketing Industry Report which shows that past year, 59 percent of marketers reported their top challenge as increasing open rates, up eight percentage points from last year.

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One in four UK workers maliciously leaks business data via email

Email attack

New research into insider threats reveals that 24 percent of UK employees have deliberately shared confidential business information outside their company.

The study from privacy and risk management specialist Egress Software Technologies also shows that almost half (46 percent) of respondents say they have received a panicked email recall request, which is not surprising given more than a third (37 percent) say they don’t always check emails before sending them.

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Office 365 subscribers get premium Outlook.com features

Office 365

Even though its name suggests otherwise, Office 365 is more than a subscription for Microsoft Office. Sure, you do get the hugely popular suite, but you also get some other really cool perks, like 1TB of OneDrive storage. And, today, Microsoft is adding one perk more to the list.

Outlook.com Premium, the paid plan that Microsoft officially introduced early this year, is now included in Office 365 Home and Personal subscriptions for free. Outlook.com Premium was previously available only as a standalone plan costing $19.95 a year.

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