Google Chrome users may have noticed the green padlock showing secure websites – those which use HTTPS – and the ‘Not Secure’ message while entering passwords on a simple HTTP website. HTTP websites don’t use encrypted web protocols, which is why Chrome displays a warning.
HTTP websites also have an ‘i’ symbol displayed against the address, which shows a warning message saying ‘Your connection to this website is not secure’.
Well, Chrome is going to be a little annoying starting from October. It will display popup warnings a lot more often.
You’ll be receiving a ‘Not Secure’ warning far more regularly, provided the websites don’t take a swift reaction and move to the more reliable HTTPS technique. So when you enter any information – from search terms to typing email for newsletter subscriptions – on any unencrypted website, you will see the ‘Not Secure’ message.
The incognito mode will show a warning for all the non-HTTPS websites as well, even if there’s no data field or form. It will be the same even outside the incognito mode, eventually.
“We plan to show the ‘Not secure’ warning for all HTTP pages, even outside Incognito mode”, says Chrome Security team.
This may be a good thing because more websites will be forced to move to HTTPS, making the internet a lot more secure. However, it’s not a welcome news for e-commerce websites considering the fact that the new update will be released before the holiday shopping season. The security warnings for such websites can scare the potential shoppers away, believes Brian Klais, the CEO of mobile-technology consulting firm Pure Oxygen Labs.
Mozilla has conducted a research study which reveals that only 60% of the web traffic is encrypted, whereas another study by Pure Oxygen Labs elucidates that 40 out of the 100 biggest e-commerce names are not HTTPS-protected.
Firefox doesn’t display the warning message yet but does show the unsecured website symbol (lock and a red line through it) for HTTP websites that ask for information. Safari and Edge neither display green lock nor display warning messages.
Chrome is the most widely used browser and its possible that other browsers may follow the update. Opera and Vivaldi are based on the Chromium platform, so its possible these browsers might be the first ones to follow the Chrome browser.
The new update will have its own advantages and drawbacks, but let’s see how it fares.