<p>Sunday, October 20, 2013 Yahoo will encrypt Web-based email by default for all of its users beginning Jan. 8, the company has told The Washington Post.</p><p>"Yahoo takes the security of our users very seriously," the company said in an emailed statement Monday. Yahoo began offering users the option to use the SSL encryption standard this year. The option "encrypts your mail as it moves between your browser and Yahoo's servers," the company said.</p><p>SSL is the standard for Internet encryption and helps protect communications from third-party snooping. The encryption is widely believed to make it harder for the National Security Agency to spy on online activities.</p><p>Yahoo has lagged behind its major competitors in offering encryption for its Web mail service. Google offered SSL as an option for its Web-based Gmail in July 2008 and made it the default for users in early 2010. It became an option for Microsoft's free Web mail service, Hotmail, in November 2010, and became the default during the switch to Outlook.com in July 2012. Social networking site Facebook started offering SSL as an option in November 2011, and made it the default for U.S. users in February, and for the world in July.</p><p><a href="http://thesnaponline.com/statenews/x703140615/Yahoo-to-make-SSL-encryption-the-default-for-Web-mail">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/331685/scitech/technology/ssl-encryption-is-coming-to-yahoo-mail">SSL encryption is coming to Yahoo Mail</a> (GMA News)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dSmP9aroyK7ImCMA6-ZRi3lrrQZOM&ned=us">3 additional articles.</a></p>