LetsEncrypt
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Chrome now alerts you to unsecured HTTP sites
Chrome has already taken numerous measures to inform users if they're on an unencrypted HTTP website, but starting today it's going one step further, with version 68 of the browser displaying a warning whenever you visit an insecure site. Instead of a green padlock and the word "secure" in the address bar, as you'll see on a HTTPS site, you'll see the words "not secure." Click on it and you'll get a warning advising against entering any sensitive information on the site, as it could be stolen by hackers.
The EFF wants to make email servers more secure
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched HTTPS-encryption initiative Let's Encrypt two years ago with Mozilla and Cisco. Now it's turning its attention to email servers with a new project called STARTTLS Everywhere, which aims to help server admins run STARTTLS emails servers properly. Because according to the EFF, most aren't.
When the 'S' in HTTPS also stands for shady
Just when we'd learned the importance of HTTPS in address bars, spammers and malicious hackers have figured out how to game the system. Let's Encrypt is an automated service that lets people turn their old unencrypted URLs into safely encrypted HTTPS addresses with a type of file called a certificate. It's terrific, especially because certificates are expensive (overpriced, actually) and many people can't afford them. So it's easy to argue that the Let's Encrypt service has done more than we may ever realize to strengthen the security of the internet and users everywhere.
'Let's Encrypt' project issues its first free certificate
Last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation along with Mozilla and Cisco launched an initiative called "Let's Encrypt" that promised to hand out free certificates anyone can use. Today, the team has released its first one -- it's only available to beta testers for now, but everyone can see it in action on the group's website. The project aims to make HTTPS implementation easier for website and online shop owners, in order to ensure the safety of customers' data. According to the EFF, participants can forget "muddling through complicated programming to set up encryption on a website, or yearly fees." The team did mention when the project launched that all users have to do to use the free certificate is to run a program.
