Google Chrome team proposes alert for non secure sites

A recent proposal was made by Google’s developers working on the organisation’s Chrome browser. It was suggested that those visiting sites with only HTTP connections should be notified by way of a pop up. This notification would state that the connection does not provide any security and that data transmitted between the user’s computer and the website’s server (or vice-versa) could be intercepted and read in plain text.

With many people still assuming that HTTP and email connections are private, recent statistics gathered by the Trustworthy Internet Movement states that there are only 33% of websites using secure connections, via the HTTPS protocol. This does raise the question that browsers should really warn people that their data is unprotected when using these sites.

In the past HTTPS has generally only been used by ecommerce sites so with smaller online merchants often only using HTTPS when collecting credit cards details from their customers, it meant that other information used in the transaction, such as items purchased, customer details, etc. were not being encrypted between the user’s computer and the merchant’s web server.

The likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo are already using HTTPS by default for their entire sites and Google announced that since September it now prioritises HTTPS sites in search rankings. Website operators may need help with adopting the HTTPS system but it will benefit the web in the long run.

If after reading this article, you need help and assistance getting your site onto HTTPS, get in touch via our Contact Us page and we’ll call you back.