Dive Brief:

• Google is adding its E2EMail code to GitHub as part of a community-driven open source end-to-end (E2E) encryption research effort.

• In doing so, Google is hoping developers can help make E2E more user-friendly without locking down technology capabilities. 

• Google first introduced E2Email as a product in 2014. Now, it will become a "full community-driven open source project" instead, the company said in a blog post.

Dive Insight:

Demand for encryption tools grew after the Edward Snowden revelations. But the best-known method of encryption, PGP, is notoriously difficult to use. E2E was supposed to make the process easier. 

E2E encryption encrypts data on both the client and server side. If a server is breached, it only contains E2E encrypted data, attackers cannot access the data because the server cannot read it.

But even though E2E encryption holds the potential for securing companies, it is also a difficult tech challenge for companies. Many companies and independent developers have tried to solve the problem. Google’s release of the product to an open source environment may show Google is also throwing in the towel and hoping independent developers can help solve the problem.