How your web browser tells you when it's safe

As Google moves to change how its Chrome browser flags insecure websites, rival browsers may be forced to follow suit. Here's how other browsers currently handle website security and what changes they have coming. Google last week spelled out the schedule it will use to reverse years of advice from security experts when browsing the Web - to "look for the padlock." Starting in July, the search giant will mark insecure URLs in its market-dominant Chrome, not those that already are secure. Google's goal? Pressure all website owners to adopt digital certificates and encrypt the traffic of all their pages. The decision to tag HTTP sites - those not locked down with a certificate and which don't encrypt server-to-browser and browser-to-server communications - rather than label the safer HTTPS websites, didn't come out of nowhere. Google has been promising as much since 2014. And Google will likely prevail: Chrome's browser share, now north of 60%, almost assures that.