Don’t look now, but Google has begun using a mandatorily encrypted HTTPS connection for sending and receiving Gmail, which means that even if you use unprotected public WiFi services to connect to the Internet, your email will still be secure.

“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,” Google wrote in its official blog last Thursday.

Gmail’s HTTPS connectivity isn’t new – it has supported HTTPS since 2004, but only as an option. It made the HTTPS its default setting in 2010, but users could still switch back to unsecured connections. They can’t anymore, starting last Thursday.

“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,” the Google blog says.

It added that the encryption Google uses ensure that the messages remain airtight not just while sending or receiving, but also while ion their data centres. “In addition, every single email message you send or receive – 100 per cent 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 centres—something we made a top priority after last summer’s revelations.”

While at it, Google also used the blog post to pat its own back for Gmail being available 99.978 per cent of the time in 2013. “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 per cent of the time, which averages to less than two hours of disruption for a user for the entire year,” reads the blog post authored by Nicolas Lidzborski, Google’s Gmail Security Engineering Lead.

“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.”

Of course, going the HTTPS way still doesn’t protect your personal data if law enforcement agencies were to specifically ask for access to it, but it still is step in the right direction to protect you and me from the hacker next door.