Google Chrome to steer away users from unsafe websites

Google is said to be working on a new Chrome feature that will automatically steer users away from websites that are not secure and still use HTTP. Instead, users will be directed to sites that use HTTPS instead of HTTP. Google has always been an advocate for HTTPS and began marking all HTTP sites as "not secure" in the Chrome browser since 2018. Starting with Chrome 86 last year, Google also began warning users on insecure forms on HTTPS sites to prevent them from sharing confidential information such as bank details. According to a new post on the Chromium Gerrit website, Google plans to add an "HTTPS only mode" to Chrome.

Once this 'HTTPS-Only Mode' comes to Google Chrome, a new toggle to "Always use secure connections" will get added to Chrome's security settings under the "Advanced" tab. If you toggle this on, Google will upgrade "all navigations to HTTPS" and warn you before loading any website that does not support it. The new code describes it as HTTPS-Only Mode Setting that adds "a setting under chrome://settings/security to opt-in to HTTPS-Only Mode. — Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android".

This HTTPS-only mode will be off (disabled) by default; however, Chrome already uses HTTPS by default if you don't specifically type http:// or https:// when entering a website URL in the address bar. For some reason, if an HTTPS version of the website you are looking for is not available and Chrome has to use the HTTP version, it will first show you a warning page. Google will save sites that you allow to bypass HTTPS-only mode, so Chrome won't ask or warn you again the next time you visit those sites.

As is the case with most of the new Chrome features, this new mode will initially be hidden behind a flag in Chrome: // flags. This HTTPS-only mode for Google Chrome is currently in development and be implemented until Chrome versions 93 or 94 are rolled out. Chrome 93 is scheduled to launch in Aug