Microsoft announced that it has enhanced security protections of its webmail service, Outlook.com, and its cloud storage service, OneDrive to combat increasing data attacks.
Microsoft’s VP of trustworthy computing security, Matt Thomlinson, in a blog post said that the company has undertaken major steps to enhance the security of users’ communications and data.
The software giant has secured its web mail service, Outlook.com, with use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) for both outbound and inbound emails. Use of TLS encryption will make sure that email sent between Microsoft and other email providers are encrypted and better protected.
The company said that it has already co-ordinated with a number of international mail providers, including Deutsche Telekom, Yandex, and Mail.Ru, in the past 6 months to make sure mails remain protected and encrypted while in transit.
Microsoft has also announced Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) encryption support for both Outlook.com and OneDrive. The PFS encryption is a technique that uses a different encryption key for every connection, thus making it harder for data hackers to decrypt connections. OneDrive’s website, mobile app and desktop sync clients will also receive PFS support.
In addition, the tech giant has opened a “transparency center” at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Transparency Centers will enable government to examine the company’s source code for key products to assure themselves of any backdoors.
