Yahoo's new security features: On-demand passwords and e2e encryption

Security and privacy are becoming more and more important as we transmit much more than just words via email. Yahoo is developing two new technologies to protect your data and create security solutions. Soon, any sensitive data that you send using email, from business documents to personal information, can be kept secure using an advanced end-to-end (e2e) encryption plugin for Yahoo Mail. And, if you forget your password, Yahoo has come up with a new solution for that as well. Yahoo is calling their new password retrieval system On-demand passwords.

On-demand passwords allows Yahoo to send a password to your phone whenever you forget your password. You first need to opt-in to on-demand passwords, then verify your phone number. After that, instead of scratching your head in vain the next time you forget your password, you can simply check your phone for your on-demand password. Starting today, it's available to Yahoo Mail users in the United States.

Even more exciting is Yahoo Mail's new e2e encryption plugin that is in the works. Yahoo aims to create intuitive and user-focused e2e encryption by the end of the year. Yahoo released the source code for its e2e plugin on GitHub to further developer innovation. If you're a security researcher looking to make some extra cash, Yahoo is welcoming hackers and security engineers alike to poke holes in their plugin and report any potential security flaws to its Bug Bounty program.

Here is the demonstration video Yahoo presented at SXSW showing a comparison of e2e and GPGTools security encryption. Yahoo's e2e is so fast that you can watch cat gifs in the time between e2e's successful encryption and GPGTools encryption.

Source: Yahoo (1), (2)