Electronics

[Montana]

This is new. The “Not Secure” information now appears before the URL on several game sites I go to.  I have been going to some of these sites for years. They are all free and do not require a login or password.

What does this mean exactly?

[dooBdoo]

               @ Montana,  I'll post an article excerpt since it explains it better in detail than I can:

​"​If you’re a Safari user who recently updated iOS or MacOS, you may occasionally run into a “Not Secure” message near the top of the screen when viewing some websites or while browsing the web.

That ‘Not Secure’ text is simply a notification from Safari that the webpage or website is using HTTP, rather than HTTPS...

....The “Not Secure” message is not an indication of any change in device security.

In other words, the device and website is no more or no less secure than it was before updating the web browser and seeing the “Not Secure” message.

By seeing the ‘Not Secure” Safari message on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac you are simply being informed by Safari that the website or webpage being visited is using HTTP rather than HTTPS, or perhaps that HTTPS is misconfigured at some technical level.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol and has been the standard web protocol since the beginning of the web.

By default, HTTP does not encrypt communication to and from the website.​..

​...​HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure, and until recently was mostly reserved for websites where encryption matters, like with an online banking website, or anything where submitting sensitive data to and from a web site should be encrypted.

When a website is using HTTPS properly it means the communication to and from the website is encrypted.​...

​...​Because both Safari and Chrome now use the “Not Secure” text in the URL bar of HTTP pages, it’s likely that more and more webpages will start moving to HTTPS simply to avoid any confusion for site visitors.

Moving to HTTPS from HTTP is a technical process, so while many websites will have moved to HTTPS already others have not yet done so and remain on HTTP.

It is worth pointing out that if you see a “Not Secure” message on an online banking website or a website where you are want to transmit sensitive data like a credit card number or social security number, then you should probably close that website. 

However, if you see the “Not Secure” text on a website where you are not inputting or transmitting any sensitive data, like a news website, information site, blog, or personal site, it likely doesn’t matter much as long as there are no logins and no transfer of sensitive information, which is when encryption matters the most.

For those wondering, the ‘Not Secure’ message in the URL bar of Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS was introduced with iOS 12.2 update and MacOS 10.14.4 update, and will likely persist with future iOS and MacOS versions of Safari too.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Google Chrome browser has a similar ‘Not Secure’ message in the address / search / URL bar in modern versions of Chrome as well.​"​

(source:  osxdaily.com/2019/03/29/safari-not-secure-website-ios-mac/)

[Montana]

Thanks for the information @dooBdoo . You’re a real sweetheart. 

Whew! I can play on as usual now. 

[dooBdoo]

            You're welcome, @ Montana, and thank you for that nice compliment!❤️   

[Ketra]

@dooBdoo Thanks for the info! Now I won’t panic when I see the changes in the URLs after the upgrade. Anytime I can avoid stress it’s a good thing.😊 Much appreciated.

[Mom2Dogs]

@dooBdoo ...thanks for that explanation...this stuff makes my head spin!

[dooBdoo]

              You’re welcome, @Ketra @Mom2Dogs!😊   I usually read the detailed release notes to anticipate changes, but even that doesn’t always prepare us for all the changes and I agree some of them can be startling.

[Lilysmom]

@ Montana @dooBdoo , thanks girls!  LM

[dooBdoo]

---

@Lilysmom wrote:

@ Montana @dooBdoo , thanks girls!  LM

---

You're welcome, @Lilysmom!

[geezerette]

@dooBdoo 

Another ‘Thank You’ from me. 😚

I encountered this situation a few weeks ago when I Googled a website I have visited many times before.  When I clicked on the Google link, I got the unsecure notification, which surprised me.  But when I typed in the URL myself in the address bar, it was secure.  (Using Safari, also)