Important Security Changes for Google Chrome

We at WSI want to inform you about an important change that the web browser Chrome is making to how it handles website pages that collect any form of data from a visitor (e.g., contact details, password, etc.)

Google cares about a secure internet and has been promoting and encouraging companies to provide a secure browsing environment since 2014.

In 2014 Google started recognizing secure Websites (HTTPS) as a ranking signal in the Google algorithms to encourage companies to move to secure Websites.

Now in Oct 2017 Google has taken the next step by indicating in Chrome (Google’s browser) sites that are not secure anytime there are form fields available which is most Websites.

With the numerous pirated hackings and security breaches among many large institutions around the world, Chrome has created an initiative to protect client’s private information, and heighten the industry’s data protection expectations.

As a result, starting this October, all sites that retrieve any private information (email, methods of payment, first name, last name, etc.) through a form (contact page, sign up form, etc.), requires the use of HTTPS. For websites that remain just HTTP, Chrome will start posting not secure notices to visitors (see image below) to warn them that the site is deemed unsafe and that they should be cautious when submitting any of their data through the website. For more information on this update, you can read the full blog post from Chrome here.

NEXT STEPS FOR YOUR WEBSITE:

Chrome corners the market when it comes to browser usage (over 55% market-share). As such, it is important that we follow their protocols and update your website to be https, so you don’t have these security warnings popping up. We would hate for messages like this to deter people from visiting your site, completing any call-to-action (e.g., form submission), and ultimately negatively impact your website conversions.

Since this update will be happening just next month, it is something we need to move on in the near future. The process to update your website to https doesn’t take long, but it is something we need to act on sooner rather than later.

Please feel free to call us at 514.693.9339 to discuss the steps we need to take to get your website to be https.