Let’s accept the fact that nothing in this world is very safe, and especially not Gmail. There’s always a chance that your email might be read by an unintended recipient or even might be hacked into.
But these aren’t the only hazards with Gmail but with just about any other email service. so, protecting your email is something to take seriously.
While a large amount of email that passes through a number of servers, noone will ever read your email but there’s a chance that this might happen, so it’s a good idea to make that assumption.
If you are communicating with someone who has a Gmail account themselves, then your email stays within the Google network and is encrypted using SSL technology.
However, if they use another email service provider, then your email might not be safe – at least, not until Google finishes building an extension that they’re in the process of doing so.
But with Heartbleed causing so much damage and effectively rendering SSL ineffective, there’s no doubt that your email will be read not only by employees but also by Google for their own advertising purposes.
As for some simple steps to keep in mind, it is vital that you get a strong password but better still, opt for two-step verification where checking the ‘Trust this computer’ option should only be done on your personal computer.
Last but not the least, ensure that you log off when checking email on a public computer at a library or when on someone else’s computer.