When you visit a website, do you make sure that it is HTTPS and not just HTTP? If you answered no, then you are like most of the people who may not be that concerned about web security. Google has tried to make the Internet a more secure place for everyone, giving developers and administrators the opportunity to switch to HTTPS from HTTP. And now they say time’s up as the next rollout of Chrome will mark all those sites that are still on HTTP as “not secure”.
Some website owners and developers have not switched to HTTPS or encrypted HTTP because it was a bit more expensive than just your regular ole HTTP. Back then when it first came out, there also wasn’t an industry push for websites to switch to it, and so some ignored it. Google started pushing them with a sort of “shame campaign” by marking them as insecure when viewed on its Chrome browser. Since then, the tech giant says that 68% of traffic on Chrome are protected via HTTPS and that 81 of the top 100 websites use it by default.
So this means, they believe it’s time to be stricter with websites. When Chrome version 38 rolls out all HTTP sites will be marked as not secure in order to warn users. However they still have the option to still browse the site if they want to (and most of them still do). Google will say, “don’t say we didn’t warn you” if ever something messes up your computer or device.
If developers need help in shifting to HTTPS, Google has resources like an audit feature in its Lighthouse program. So really, there’s no more excuse why you wouldn’t want your website to be secure right?
VIA: SlashGear
