Chrome's July 2018 Deadline. Are You Ready?
Here it is in a nutshell...
Most websites have over the years pushed for having the “secure by default” option in their sites and today Google has heard their cry. What does this option do? It helps identify sites that are considered insecure. July is the month where Google shapes up!
In the past Google has been ensuring the web is safe through rather ineffective means. It has been doing away with unsafe websites using the search results and further giving warning to the users that such WebPages are unsafe; clearly, this has not been effective.
At the beginning of this month, Google announced to its loyal customers that it would have “Speed Update” that would kick-start in July. It further announced that any site which shall not have drifted to the HTTPS era shall be marked as not safe.
Chrome 68
This is another feature that is also set to be released in July. It will be very different from the current Chrome 64 as it shall highlight if a web page is not secure.
This particular chrome will be charged with the enforcement of HTTPS only websites. This means that any page on that browser which shall not have the extension “HTTPS” shall be marked as insecure.
Google has further encouraged webmasters to secure their sites by alluding the above in small rankings. It states that:
• About 78%of Chrome traffic on Mac and Chrome OS has been protected.
• About 81 out of the possible one hundred sites are now using HTTPS by default.
Advantages of Moving to HTTPS
HTTPS secures your data using the Transport Layer Security protocol (TLS). Uses three key protection layers:
1. Data Integrity- any data cannot be corrupted or modified during transfer without raising a red flag. The corruption could be by intention or not.
2. Encryption- this layer of protection is charged with the role of keeping any form of exchanged data private. This means that when one is browsing no one can be able to track the users activities,
3. Authentication-this is a form of proof that the user passes on information using the right website. It ensures that the middlemen do not attack hence creating user trust and consequently promoting business.
HTTPS also aids in the loss of referral data- referral data is mostly lost when the referral header is dropped during the switching of one website to another; mostly secured to unsecured.
Conclusion
Migrating from HTTP to HTTPS could be tasking based on the scope and size of the project. Whereas it would seem that shifting is a foreign term, most websites are already browsing on HTTPS and are safe. For those websites still on the red area of danger, it would do you good if you shifted.
