Sending an email via Facebook is now more secured with Facebook's recent alliance with email encryption standard OpenPGP.
In 2010, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a new way to send messages from your primary email address via Facebook. This innovation made it easier for users across different professions to collaborate faster, as it cut down the steps in transitioning from informal to corporate communications.
On June 1, he made this messaging system safer through cryptographic keys.
"To enhance the privacy of this email content, today we are gradually rolling out an experimental new feature that enables people to add OpenPGP public keys to their profile; these keys can be used to "end-to-end" encrypt notification emails sent from Facebook to your preferred email accounts," read in the official statement Facebook released about the new email encryption feature.
Developed by Phil Zimmerman, OpenPGP Alliance is the gold standard for snoop-immune communications. With a combination of private and public keys, the organization keeps messages protected from unwarranted surveillance.
So, how do you enable this feature to your Facebook account?
It's easy: Just get your personal public key from your Facebook contact page, and add it to your settings.
Independent press freedom fighters Committee to Protect Journalists was happy about the update because it freed the communication platform from known data threats and the possibility of data leaks.
"Facebook has taken an important step to help protect users' private communications by default, and make the risky environment in which journalists work a little bit safer," CPJ Internet Advocacy Coordinator Geoffrey King said.
