Google said earlier this year that unencrypted sites, the ones with HTTP will be flagged as ‘Not Secure’ on the web browser of Chrome 68, and the action will be taken right since its launch. The Chrome 68 releases today, July 24 and is already set for a rollout.
Initially, the HTTP sites collecting passwords and credit card info were being flagged with the warning. Now, Google has come up with a broader move that scraps all sites with the HTTP configuration, which is a part of its Chrome warnings.
In other words, it is the company’s attempted countermeasure to the Chrome-labelled HTTP websites that are not secure. This augments the collaborative efforts by major cybersecurity advocates such as ExpressVPN’s Chrome VPN extension featuring EFF’s HTTPS Everywhere to direct all traffic to encrypted HTTPS sites.
On the other hand, the HTTPS configuration is designed for encrypting the connection between your device and your visited site, keeping transmitted information protected and holding interference of third parties at bay.
This is an effort of Google to keep HTTPS as the default protocol for secure information, with sites requiring to comply on a standardized basis. Therefore, using the HTTPS configuration for your site is not an option anymore, but mandatory if you want it to be flagged as being secure.
Google will be bringing Chrome 69 on board, which is set to release in September. In this version of the web browser, the ‘Secure’ label on the HTTPS sites will be removed, according to the tech giant’s plans. The ultimate aim is to ensure that the internet world does not ever get to provide the message: ‘Chrome not secure!‘
Many users may see it as a backward move. But Google is hoping that this removal of the label will mean that the entire world of the internet is secure by default. This requires the HTTP sites to transit to the HTTPS configuration, which is the main intention of the company.
Labeled or not, what most matters is security, and scandals have already been on the upper hand. As long as Google’s encryptions provide the same, Chrome users (that’s the majority of the netizens worldwide) are happy!
