Google Enterprise Blog: Staying at the forefront of email security and reliability: HTTPS-only and 99.978% availability, plus 1 more |  |
| Staying at the forefront of email security and reliability: HTTPS-only and 99.978% availability Posted: 20 Mar 2014 09:47 AM PDT (Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog and Gmail Blog) Editor's note: The updates below apply to both consumers and Google Apps users. Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us. As you go about your day reading, writing, and checking messages, there are tons of security measures running behind the scenes to keep your email safe, secure, and there whenever you need it. Starting today, Gmail will always use an encrypted HTTPS connection when you check or send email. Gmail has supported HTTPS since the day it launched, and in 2010 we made HTTPS the default. Today's change means that no one can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between you and Gmail's servers—no matter if you're using public WiFi or logging in from your computer, phone or tablet. In addition, every single email message you send or receive—100% of them—is encrypted while moving internally. This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail's servers, but also as they move between Google's data centers—something we made a top priority after last summer's revelations. Of course, being able to access your email is just as important as keeping it safe and secure. In 2013, Gmail was available 99.978% of the time, which averages to less than two hours of disruption for a user for the entire year. Our engineering experts look after Google's services 24x7 and if a problem ever arises, they're on the case immediately. We keep you informed by posting updates on the Apps Status Dashboard until the issue is fixed, and we always conduct a full analysis on the problem to prevent it from happening again. Our commitment to the security and reliability of your email is absolute, and we're constantly working on ways to improve. You can learn about additional ways to keep yourself safe online, like creating strong passwords and enabling 2-step verification, by visiting the Security Center: https://www.google.com/help/security.    |
| City of New York and Google Maps help people stay street smart Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:25 AM PDT Editor's note: Last year, the City of New York enacted legislation requiring the creation of a crime map that the public could use to get information about safety on city streets. The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) worked with the New York Police Department (NYPD) to create an interactive visualization of crime trends in the city. Today we hear from Colin Reilly, Director of DoITT's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Unit, who led the team that developed the map. For a bustling city of more than eight million, New York City has remarkably low crime rates — it's the safest big city in the country. However, that doesn't stop the government from always looking for new ways to keep the public safe. Last year the city passed a law requiring the Department of Information Technology (DoITT) to create an interactive crime map. The ability to visualize crime incidents empowers people to make informed decisions about their safety. Additionally, publishing the data in such a public and accessible way makes each precinct more accountable for crime in its area. With these goals in mind, we worked with the NYPD to release the NYC Crime Map. We used Google Maps Engine to layer information about specific crime incidents – including felonies like murder, rape and theft – on top of a Google Map. Now New Yorkers have a tool at their fingertips to quickly assess the safety of their surroundings through the familiar Google Map interface. People planning a move can search specific addresses before relocating. Neighborhood and community organizations use the map to view patterns over a certain period of time to understand, for instance, whether crime has increased in the area of a new nightclub. The default map view lets you zoom in and out to quickly see the crime rate for a particular area. You can search for crimes by type and date range. We've also added a heat map that color codes crime incidents per 1,000 residents, which makes it easy to compare the concentration of crime by precinct or location. Previously, the police department posted raw data – such as listings of crimes, dates and addresses, on a website. The new, intuitive map interface visualizes these statistics by geographical area, type, and date, making it much easier to read and overall more helpful for New Yorkers. Before starting the project we assessed several open-source tools, but we chose Google Maps for Business because it allowed us to develop the map quickly and without the need for specialized GIS skills. Google hosts all of the data in the cloud as well, which allows us to focus on our core mission – developing innovative technology solutions for the New York City. Thanks to Google Maps, the NYC Crime Map can handle large volumes of traffic – a third of which comes from mobile devices – which we couldn't have managed on our own. The NYC Crime Map is part of a larger citywide campaign to be more transparent and accountable to the public. With the easy-to-use interface the NYC Crime Map provides, policymakers and the public they serve are provided a clearer view into the safety of neighborhoods across the five boroughs.   |
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