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Have you ever noticed the Security icon in the address bar next to the URL? Since a long time, the sign means that the user’s website is safe and secure. However, Google says that’s no longer the case.
In a recent blog post, the tech giant said that it will soon be removing the lock icon and replacing it with a version of the melody icon, which is typically used for controls or settings. Google says the new icon will be easier to click and won’t be a sign of “trustworthiness.”
Since the earliest versions of Netscape in the 1990s, when a site runs on HTTPS, a lock icon appears in the browser. The company says that this is no longer true and that HTTPS is now the standard, not the exception. So, it will change Google Chrome in a way that makes sense.
“The lock icon is meant to show that the network connection between the browser and the site is a secure channel that cannot be tampered with or eavesdropped on by third parties,” Google says on its blog. “However, it’s a holdover from a time when HTTPS wasn’t as common.”
“Despite our best efforts, our research in 2021 showed that only 11% of the people we studied knew exactly what the lock icon meant,” the company says.
Google says that this error is “not harmless” because almost all phishing sites use HTTPS and therefore also display the lock icon.
He says that changing the lock icon to a neutral icon will help stop people from thinking that the lock icon means a page is secure. He also says that security should be the default state of Chrome. Google says in a blog post that the new icon will make permission controls and other security information easier to find and avoid the confusion that comes with the lock icon.
As the company said, the new melody icon will be rolled out with Chrome 117, which is set to launch in early September 2023. This is part of an overall redesign for desktop platforms.
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Categories: Technology
Source: vtt.edu.vn