Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google is working to make browsing more secure by soon offering an HTTPS-first option, which will try to upgrade page loads to HTTPS, the company announced on Wednesday. If you flip this option on, the browser will also show a full-page warning when you try to load up a site that doesn’t support HTTPS. The company is also announcing that it’s “re-examining” the lock icon in the URL bar and plans to experiment with a change to how that looks.
HTTPS is a more secure version of HTTP (yes, the “S” stands for “secure”), and many of the websites you visit every day likely already support it. Since HTTPS encrypts your traffic, it’s a helpful privacy tool for when you’re using public Wi-Fi or to keep your ISP from snooping on the contents of…
