Google marks all HTTP sites ‘not secure’ starting today

With the release of Google Chrome 68 today, technology behemoth Google is labeling all HTTP sites as “not secure,” in an effort to get developers to transition their websites to the safer HTTP Secure (HTTPS) standard.

Unlike HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), HTTPS is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS), securing communications between your computer and the websites you visit.

Google announced its plan to flag all HTTP sites in Chrome in February, when it laid out the browser’s roadmap for 2018.

“Beginning in July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as ‘not secure,’” Emily Schechter, Chrome Security Product Manager, wrote on the Google Security blog. And today is the day Chrome 68 hatches into stable form, available to anyone with a Windows, Mac or Linux PC.

In accordance with Google’s roadmap, starting today, all HTTP sites will be marked as “not secure” in a grayed out warning.

“Chrome’s new interface will help users understand that all HTTP sites are not secure, and continue to move the web towards a secure HTTPS web by default. HTTPS is easier and cheaper than ever before, and it unlocks both performance improvements and powerful new features that are too sensitive for HTTP,” Schechter added.

With future releases of Chrome (i.e 69 or 70), the web giant plans to show the warning in red. Soon after, it will do away with the warning completely – only showing the padlock icon as an indication that the site you are visiting is secure.

Developers looking to get their websites on the HTTPS bandwagon have these tools at their disposal.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from HOTforSecurity authored by Filip Truta. Read the original post at: https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender.com/blog/google-marks-all-http-sites-not-secure-starting-today-20134.html