Chrome cracks down on sites that don’t use encryption

Chrome 56 is launching in January, and will implement a new warning that you’ll see on any login sites that are still unencrypted. The pages will be marked as “not secure” in a small window by the address bar, which should help usher browsers away from any site that’s still not utilizing HTTPS. In the future, these pages will also be denoted with a special red triangle symbol as well.

This is in contrast to the way Chrome already warns users, as it uses a “neutral indicator,” as explained by Emily Schechter, Chrome Security Team.

HTTPS, as Schechter explains, is important because loading sites via regular HTTP opens you up to potential attacks: “When you load a website over HTTP, someone else on the network can look at or modify the site before it gets to you.” Attacks utilizing these windows of opportunity do happen, and quite a bit more often than you’d think.

Chrome is continuing a series of ongoing efforts to improve the browser’s security, but these are a couple of the most recent and important steps in keeping users and their information safe.