Google Is Turning Up the Pressure On Sites To Adopt HTTPS

Making sure a website is secure and using HTTPS before conducting any sensitive activity, such as entering in personal information like a Social Security number, is an important part of staying safe online. For Google Chrome users, that was indicated by a green lock symbol in the upper right corner. But that's about to change, CNET reports. 

According to Google, 83 percent of websites people visited using the Chrome Browser on a Windows device were HTTPS. Because the majority of sites have the security of HTTPS, the tech company has decided it's more important to instead point out which sites aren't secure.

"Since we'll soon start marking all HTTP pages as 'not secure,' we'll step towards removing Chrome's positive security indicators so that the default unmarked state is secure," wrote Emily Schechter, product manager for Chrome security in a blog post on Thursday.

Chrome plans to use a bright red icon and a warning in the URL bar saying "Not Secure" to indicate a website's HTTP status and to warn users to be wary.

Google will make the switch to use these indicators by October. In the meantime, you'll have to keep an eye out for insecure sites by yourself. And if you have a website that's still stuck at HTTP, Google has some helpful advice.