( CNN ) -- Still concerned about some faceless government bureaucrat peeking at your e-mails and other online communications ? Well , you 've got a new champion : Microsoft . The computing giant has announced a set of new privacy features , in a post that specifically calls out `` government snooping '' as the reason . Responding to news reports that the National Security Agency may be monitoring more online activity than was previously believed , Microsoft attorney and executive vice president Brad Smith wrote that the company is rolling out three new features : . -- Expanded encryption across Microsoft services . -- Reinforced legal protections for customer data . -- Enhanced transparency designed to show customers that Microsoft products do n't have `` back doors '' that make government surveillance easier . `` Like many others , we are especially alarmed by recent allegations in the press of a broader and concerted effort by some governments to circumvent online security measures -- and in our view , legal processes and protections -- in order to surreptitiously collect private customer data , '' Smith wrote in the post published late Wednesday . `` ... If true , these efforts threaten to seriously undermine confidence in the security and privacy of online communications . Indeed , government snooping potentially now constitutes an 'advanced persistent threat , ' alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks . '' Just over a month ago , a Washington Post report said the NSA can tap into overseas data links to collect millions of text , video and audio records from tech giants like Google and Yahoo every day . The NSA denied that report . NSA spying claims : Five things you need to know . Wednesday 's post says Microsoft launched `` a comprehensive engineering effort '' to enhance encryption on communications via tools like e-mail service Outlook , productivity suite Office 365 , SkyDrive and Windows Azure . Data sent between customers and Microsoft is now encrypted by default , meaning messages will be garbled during transition so they become useless to anyone who may intercept them between the sender and intended recipient . All messages traveling between Microsoft servers will be added . Some changes went into effect immediately , and all will be active by the end of 2014 , Smith wrote . `` While we have no direct evidence that customer data has been breached by unauthorized government access , we do n't want to take any chances and are addressing this issue head on , '' the post said . In recent months , some of tech 's biggest players have been pushing back against perceived government intrusions . In September , CEOs Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Marissa Mayer of Yahoo took to the stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference to condemn government surveillance of private citizens online . Microsoft 's move follows Google and Yahoo , both of which have stepped up encryption of users ' data in light of reports about the NSA . In a blog post last month announcing the new protections , Mayer wrote that `` Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or any other government agency . Ever . ''
Microsoft rolls out new encryption protections for customers ' data . Blog post cited the possibility of `` government snooping '' Yahoo and Google have made similar moves to block NSA from accessing info . Encryption makes intercepted messages harder to understand .