Changes in Chrome For https & http Indicators

There have been a number of changes in Chrome for HTTPS & HTTP indicators that may affect your website and business. It is prudent to take note of these changes to ensure that your website is not negatively affected.

What you need to know

When Chrome 68 was released in July of this year, the changes in Chrome for HTTPS & HTTP indicators were the biggest change Chrome had implemented. A “Not Secure” warning was to be displayed in the address bar of websites that did not have appropriate security measures. To ensure that Chrome marked your site safe with green “Secure” text, you would have needed an SSL certificate. However, Chrome has now implemented a new change with the release of Chrome 69 in September and Chrome 70 in October. Chrome UI no longer includes the green “Secure” indicator in the address bar for all HTTP pages. Chrome says on the Chromium blog that “users should expect that the web is safe by default”. Chrome is now moving towards removing positive security indicators, and instead warning a user when there is an issue. This also means that Chrome will no longer include HTTP pages as “safe”.

What you should do

To keep up with the changes in Chrome for HTTPS & HTTP indicators, you should consider the following to ensure that Chrome doesn’t mark your site as “not secure”:

• If you don’t already have one, set up an SSL certificate.
• Check that your SSL certificate is still valid, and renew it if needs be.
• Deploy HTTPS across your whole site to ensure that each page is an HTTPS page.

Following Chrome’s HTTPS scheme is important as they will soon be marking HTTP pages as “Not Secure” when users attempt to enter data on these pages. It is necessary to keep users’ data safe, and for your users to see your business as trustworthy. For more information on HTTPS & HTTP indicators and how to set up an SSL certificate, contact HOSTAFRICA today.