Here is another informative and helpful tip to keep you, your family, and your businesses safe in cyberspace.
Today’s topic: Secure Web Browsing
Picture this… You are holding a giant poster walking in the middle of a crowded area, and on the poster are all your passwords, your social security number, bank account numbers, and every private message you ever wanted to keep a secret. Obviously, this is far from what you would want. In the digital world, this is what is possible if you are not browsing securely.
Am I browsing Securely?
The best way to determine if you are browsing securely is to confirm that the site you are visiting is using HTTP or HTTPS. When possible, always use HTTPS, and do not enter anything you don’t want to be posted to the metaphorical giant poster on an HTTP website. Most web browsers now provide you with a warning in the top left next to the URL in the event you visit a website with HTTP. This is shown in the picture below.
The above image shows the notification in Google Chrome stating that the site is “Not Secure”.
In Firefox you will see a red line crossing out a lock as shown below.
This means that everything you receive from and send to the website is sent over the Internet in plain text. So, let us say you entered in the username “info@cybirical.com” and password “Aw3someP@55” on this website. In this scenario, any device or person with access to the network traffic will be able to see your password.
Instead of the warnings noted above, what you want to see when visiting a website is the lock symbol below for both Chrome and Firefox.
Even if you are not sending or receiving sensitive information, it is good practice to visit only sites with HTTPs as the identity of that website has also been verified by a 3rd party.
For more information you can visit Google Chrome’s Help page on HTTPS vs HTTP at: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95617