Google Leads the Way to Better Website Security With Chrome 62

Image courtesy of Hugh D'Andrade from Electronic Frontier Foundation, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Every so often, we hear stories of personal information being compromised or stolen from the internet. This undoubtedly scares us, but how can we recognize if there's a threat? What steps can we take to protect ourselves from data theft? We cannot estimate the effects of hacking until we've come face to face with it.

It is a relief to know that Google has taken a huge step to web security that will largely benefit netizens. As promised, Chrome 62 delivers better user experience with a host of new features that includes "Not Secure Labels" for some HTTP Pages. How does it work? Some users may not have noticed that when you enter an HTTP page, your Chrome browser will warn you if the website is not secure - right inside your browser. On the URL bar, before the URL, a site that is lacking SSL will be marked “Not Secure” in red. The illustration is how eventually all HTTP pages will be treated in Chrome.

Pete LePage, a developer advocate at Google, stated that this feature would also show in Incognito mode for all HTTP Pages. Whoa, that's really cool! Thank you, Google!

Since January 2017, URL of websites without SSL Certificate will appear with a warning icon. See below. Clicking the icon will show a “not secure connection” warning.

The feature is specifically important for e-commerce web users who are at risk for putting in passwords, credit card information and other personal data. The threat is real, and people put a premium on personal information security, so this move by Google makes users feel more secure on the web.

Last month, Google started to notify website and web pages that lack the basic security feature called SSL. SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is a technology that ensures all data passing between web servers and a browser remain private and protected against hackers. This move imposes a push for operators to start securing their websites with an SSL certificate, on top of other measures. For businesses who do not take their visitors’ personal data security seriously, it may mean potential customers are abandoning their site and losing business to competitors with secured websites. Note that a Hubspot research shows that 8 out of 10 users said that they would leave a business website that isn’t secured with SSL. It is for this fact that owners of business websites should be concerned with such threats and invest in website security as much as they did in building their platform. Otherwise, a structured platform that lacks security is nothing different from a brick and mortar store in a deserted town.