Google’s BoringSSL – A Safer Alternative to OpenSSL

Google’s BoringSSL is going to replace OpenSSL encryption protocol for tighter security and greater ease of use. Currently, OpenSSL is used by a number of social networking websites, search engines, websites of banks and other organizations for a secure transfer of data. However, the latest Heartbleed bug made OpenSSL vulnerable to cyber attacks. Therefore, Google came up with a safer encryption protocol which is known as the BoringSSL.

Heartbleed bug is a serious threat to the security offered by websites for data transfer. Attackers can target the servers of banks and other important organizations. Parts of the memory of the victimized server can then be read by the attackers. In this way, important information is revealed to them which can be used for bigger crimes, such as identity theft. No wonder, Heartbleed bug has left sensitive organizations feeling terrorized. Google’s BoringSSL has, therefore, come to the rescue.

At present, Google is using OpenSSL for Chrome as well as Android. The open source encryption protocol has been modified differently for different Google products. However, now the company is going to change over to its new encryption protocol for all products.

Just a few weeks after the breakout of Heartbleed bug, another encryption protocol had also been developed by OpenBSD Foundation. It is known as LibreSSL and is more secure than OpenSSL. Apart from Google’s own project, it will also be making contributions to OpenBSD. This will help bring improvements to OpenSSL which is still preferred by many independent developers and is currently being used by many existing websites.