Talk across the Interwebs this morning is revolving around a possible upcoming decision by Google Chrome to flag non-secure websites via a red “x” icon. The feature hasn’t been officially announced, however a new hidden option is now available within Chrome which lets you “Mark non-secure origins as non-secure, or as ‘dubious’“. Want to try it out for yourself? Head on over to chrome://flags/ in you’re Google Chrome address bar, and look for the following option:
Enabling this will cause websites that are not utilizing an HTTPS connection to display the following icon next to their address bars:
Not exactly a pleasant icon to have next to you’re website domain name. However Google’s stance on the topic is pretty clear:
Our goal is to mark non-secure pages like HTTP using the same bad indicator as broken HTTPS, since this 1) is more accurate than marking such pages as neutral, and 2) simplifies the set of security indicators.
No official post has been made stating when this feature will be turned on by default – however it’s a safe bet that it’s coming. If this truly bothers you – now would be a good time to look into securing you’re website with an SSL certificate.