Further securing the world wide web are browsers Firefox and Chrome. The two browsers will now mark all HTTP sites as not secure and use a more prominent visual indicator for the same.
The update will be available in Firefox 51 and Chrome 56, both of which must have automatically rolled out to most users by now.
HTTP is the default connection protocol used by most sites. The problem is that the data sent via this method is not secure. This includes login data, passwords, banking information, etc. Basically, data shared on HTTPS connections is encrypted. Data shared on HTTP connections on the other hand, isn’t encrypted.
Firefox will mark HTTP connections with a padlock that has a strike through it, Google Chrome will specifically label the site as ‘Not secure’ in the title bar itself.
Most browsers today do mark a secure connection as such. ArsTechnica, however, points out that browsers would not mark sites that used HTTPS frames within a HTTP page (for, say, login information) as not secure. The updates to Chrome and Firefox ensure this.
While most people are not security-minded enough to check if a site is secured or not, it’s important that we do check for this, particularly on sites that require any kind of personal, payment or login information.