Google Adding Server Side Encryption to Cloud Storage

In the wake of the NSA/Snowden/PRISM scandals, privacy and security are becoming a more prescient matter for the general public, and Internet Companies are catching on quick.  Google is now providing AES-128 server-side encryption on its Cloud Storage Platform.  Posted to Cloud Platform Blog today, Google announced a new data security system, involving them encrypting your data before writing it to disk with 128 bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128) encryption key, which is in turn encrypted with a master-key.  This comes only a month after Google were reported to be testing server-side encryption, so it looks like they made some headway with the testing pretty quickly.

This is a good first stride towards consumer data security against federal snooping.  Though Google still holds the keys to your data, and could be forced through legal means to decrypt it for one of the alphabet agencies should they deem it necessary, you can maintain control of the encryption keys yourself if you wish.  This would be the much better option from a security stand point, as you would know what is happening and when to your data.

Hopefully other cloud storage providers will follow suit, and implement server-side encryption themselves.  If you’re not using Google Cloud, and want better protection for your data, take a look at TrueCrypt for encrypting your files before uploading.

Source: Google Cloud Platform Blog