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77 Percent of Google Internet Traffic Now Encrypted

The Web giant wants 100 percent encryption across all its products and services, but barriers stand in the way.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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As of Feb. 27, encryption protected 77 percent of requests sent from computers around the world to Google's servers, up from 52 percent at the end of 2013, according to new figures.

Released Tuesday as part of Google's Transparency Report, the data covers most Google traffic, with the exception of YouTube. The Web giant said it's aiming to achieve 100 percent encryption across all its products and services.

Google Encryption

Since March 2014, 100 percent of Gmail traffic has been protected with HTTPS, a mechanism that allows your browser or app to securely connect to a website. As Google explains in the report, HTTPS "relies on encryption—SSL or TLS—to secure the connection," and offers protection against "eavesdroppers, man-in-the-middle attacks, and hijackers who attempt to spoof a trusted website."

"We are working to implement HTTPS across all of our products," the company said. "We continue to work through the technical barriers that make it more difficult to support encryption on some of our products."

Breaking it down by product, 100 percent of Drive traffic and 83 percent of Maps traffic is currently encrypted with HTTPS, Google's graphs show. Encryption also varies by country, "due to a variety of factors, including the types of devices in use in that country, as well as the availability of software that can support modern TLS," Google said.

Mexico leads the pack, with encryption protecting 86 percent of its traffic to Google; followed by Brazil at 84 percent; and Japan, India, and the U.K. tying for third at 82 percent. The U.S. comes in ninth, with encryption protecting 72 percent of requests Google receives.

Google also notes that the "vast majority" of unencrypted end user traffic comes from mobile devices, largely because some older devices cannot support modern encryption, standards,  or protocols. "Unfortunately, these devices may no longer be updated and may never support encryption," Google wrote in the report.

Several other "technical and political challenges" are standing in the way of Google's goal to attain full traffic encryption, including countries that "block or otherwise degrade HTTPS traffic," and a lack of technical resources within some organizations to implement it.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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