All data that moves between Yahoo’s data centers is now encrypted

In November last year, Yahoo revealed plans to encrypt all information that moves between its data centers by the end of Q1 2014, and it has delivered. As of March 31, traffic between its data centers is fully encrypted, the company announced today. This comes after Yahoo switched on default HTTPS for all users of its Yahoo Mail service in January this year. The company revealed that in the last month, it has also enabled encryption of mail between its servers and other mail providers that support the SMTPTLS standard as well. 

Yahoo has announced major steps to encrypt its users’ data in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about the extent of government surveillance of private citizens. Alex Stamos, Yahoo’s recently appointed chief information security officer, said on Wednesday his ultimate aim was to make sure “all traffic through Yahoo will be encrypted by default”. Stamos, a well-known security researcher, was an outspoken critic of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) mass surveillance programme before he joined Yahoo. He said the moves would make it much more difficult for governments, or other parties, to collect information wholesale from the public.