Google Chrome Browser Warning – How to Migrate from HTTP to HTTPS
A quick look at an interesting W3Schools statistic on most popular browsers says it all! W3Schools gets on an average 45 million monthly visits and the trends collected by them since 2002 reveal that the Google Chrome browser by far has been the most popular to date. In fact, as recently as in August 2017, Chrome with 76.9% was miles ahead of the next popular browser Firefox with 13.1% usage. These trends establish the global popularity of the Chrome browser to access the internet.
Courtesy: https://blog.chromium.org
Understanding Browser Security
As a leading digital marketing agency in India specializing in website design and development, we know that most websites are not developed keeping browser security in mind. Let’s take a quick minute to understand the browsing process.
When a user inputs a web address or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on their Google Chrome browser or any other browser, the prefix of the URL e.g. http or https will determine how the URL gets interpreted.
What is http? – Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is at the core of data communication online and outlines the request-response protocol to transfer/exchange hypertext. For example, what triggers between the browser from where the request is generated to the hosting server from where the response is initiated.
What is https? – Hypertext Transport Layer Security (HTTPS) is a protocol for secure data communication that helps browsers in ensuring webpage authenticity so that they can use it safely for payment transactions and be rest assured that their identity and communications data when inputted on the https-compliant website is secure.
Changes in Google Chrome Browser Starting October 2017
Starting October 1, 2017, you can expect two big changes in Chrome browser security warnings as was communicated through email notifications sent to webmasters through the Google Search Console. These changes will reflect in the event of the following situations:
- Chrome will show a Not Secure warning when a user inputs any data on a HTTP page
- A warning on all HTTP pages visited in the incognito mode
Once the current version of Chrome version 61.0.3163.100 gets updated to version 62 in October 2017 these changes will come into effect. In this Chromium blog, we learn that the real motivation to enforce such major changes was to not only safeguard credit card and password related information but to also intimate Chrome users that any type of data that they input into a Not Secure http browser carries the risk of getting compromised.
Another important myth that Google plans to bust through this update is the popular perception that browsing on the Incognito Mode is a 100% secure experience. The incognito mode is only a way to ensure browsing privately from other users on just the device that you are using, something that is also a standard warning that is flashed each time you press a CTRL+Shift+N to open the incognito mode.
How Techmagnate can help?
If you haven’t already, then you must consider migration to HTTP not just from the fear of compliance to this new Chrome update but also because the browsing experience on your website will become faster and safer for your visitors.
Being a leading Search Engine Optimization Company (SEO) and digital marketing agency in India we have always stayed on top of such important updates that have the potential to impact our client businesses. Our website designing and development experts are all geared up and ready to help you make a smooth transition from the HTTP to HTTPS protocol to ensure there is no loss of leads or business because of visitors who would be reluctant to input data on an unsecured website.
For HTTPS migration request or any other business need such as ORM or app store optimization, call us today!