We have been constantly updating you on Google’s every step to make the internet a paradise. We previously informed you about the Google Chrome update and similar movements initiated by Firefox as well.
To make the ‘www’ more secure for all the Chrome users across the world, Google has come up with its latest update; Chrome update version 90. In this article, we are going to brief you on what the updates mean for you and shed light on Google’s plan to make the internet a better place for netizens.
Now, all websites will be automatically loaded in ‘HTTPS as a default instead of the previously used ‘HTTP’. This update allows websites to load faster and ensure safe navigation. Websites not supporting ‘HTTPS’ will fall back onto ‘HTTP.
Go to Google Google Update Applications Google Chrome. Turn on Update policy override. Under Options, choose Updates disabled. If you turned off Chrome browser auto-updates, make sure they’re also turned off on users’ computers: On each user computer, open Chrome browser and at the top, click More Settings. On the left, click Menu About Chrome. Everything about Google Chrome’s Latest Update: Version 90 April 23, 2021 SSL Certificate for IP Address March 26, 2021 Verified Mark Certificates and BIMI Standards March 3, 2021. March 15, 2021 Google Chrome urgently requires an update to patch a severe vulnerability. You may be tired of updating Chrome (the latest urgent update was just last month), but it’s that time again, and with good reason: Cybercriminals have already exploited this vulnerability. What is CVE-2021-21193?
Having a ‘Not secure’ prompt display in your website’s URL is a major downside to the website’s user experience as well as conversion rate. Over the years, customers have run away from the default HTTP unsecured websites. Bearing this in mind, Google came up with its latest feature for website owners to ensure a much reliable experience. Find out how!
HTTPS has been consistently faster and secure than the default HTTP protocol for decades. With this situation in mind, Google found an excellent opportunity to revamp into a much secure and user-friendly experience. Realising that users type incomplete URLs while accessing websites, Google decided to update Chrome 90, through which users will be redirected to the secure HTTPS without specifying the protocol.
As per the latest data from Google’s Transparency Report, 95% of websites use encryptions to safeguard their conversions, bounce rate, and traffic. This security improvisation was announced in March 2021 in the Chromium Project blog along with other Chrome 90 updates. Compared to the other updates like video conferencing and reduced data consumption, the safe HTTPS navigation update received the limelight.
In the competition for (HTTP:// vs HTTPS://), HTTPS certainly wins as it is a safer navigation option for users. This implies if you visit a website let us say ‘safe.com’ on your browser, Google will load the website as ‘https://safe.com’. Here, Google discards the usual ‘http://safe.com’ completely making the ‘HTTPS’ default.
This extension adds a button to your browser toolbar. Click the translate icon whenever you want to translate the page you're visiting. The extension also automatically detects if the language of a page you're on is different from the language you're using for your Google Chrome interface.
Also, read our guide on the difference between HTTP & HTTPS
Making the shift of automatically loading HTTPS as the default protocol for websites, has proved to improve the website’s loading speed along with privacy measures. HTTPS Being the widely used and default protocol now, will not be catering to websites that do not support it.
In such cases, Chrome will bounce back to HTTP instead of HTTPS.
Meaning, if a local host tries to access a website that does not support HTTPS, Chrome will fall back on the HTTP protocol instead of the updated HTTPS feature. This is also inferred upon certificate errors, untrusted self-signed certificates, connections errors, etc.
The Chrome 90 update overcomes Google’s historical scheme of loading default HTTP web pages resulting in the daunting ‘Not Secure’ warning. Over the years, this has driven away potential customers from businesses.
Why does the shift to HTTPS as a default matter?
Shifting to HTTPS as the default browser can have a positive impact on loading websites as Google presumes that most websites are using SSL/TLS certificates. Considering most websites do use these certificates, will this have a negative impact on those who do not? Absolutely not. The websites not having these certificates will still load. However, the browser will give HTTPS the first try and then go back to loading with HTTP.
Here are a few reasons for Google’s HTTPS update:
Keeping our data secure: It is no secret that most users do not type the complete URL while visiting a website since most use HTTPS anyway. This allows Google to assume that people wish to keep their data secure using encryption. Basically, this is Google’s boon to prevent costly data breaches and insecure connections.
Android Google Chrome Won't Update 2021
Google’s Security Policy: Google strongly believes in maintaining a secure and qualitative website. Apart from this, strong encryption is the most fundamental and crucial aspect leading to safety and security in the cyber world. Google is working towards strong support encryptions in all its products and services ensuring the users safer navigation.
HTTPS used by 95% of websites: People owning websites all over the internet run away from the ugly ’not secure’ display. Be it a customer or the website owner itself, nobody likes it. This led to most websites using an SSL/TLS certificate which meant that they were legit.
Google Chrome Update 2021
Now, this resorted to 95% of websites following the same security measure. Now catering to most websites, it is quite logical for Google to allow HTTPS as a default. This helps websites to improve their conversion rate along with users having safer navigation options.
Summarizing Google Chrome 90 update, in a nutshell, all websites will be automatically loaded in ‘HTTPS’ as a default instead of the previously used ‘HTTP’. This update allows websites to load faster and ensure safe navigation. Websites not supporting ‘Https’ will fall back onto ‘HTTP.
The update patches a total of seven security flaws in the desktop versions of the popular web browser
Google has released an update for its Chrome web browser that fixes a range of security flaws, including a zero-day vulnerability that is known to be actively exploited by malicious actors. The bugs affect the Windows, macOS, and Linux versions of the popular browser.
“Google is aware of reports that exploits for CVE-2021-21224 exist in the wild,” said Google about the newly disclosed zero-day vulnerability that stems from a type confusion bug in the V8 JavaScript engine that is used in Chrome and other Chromium-based web browsers. Practical automation driver download for windows.
Beyond the zero-day flaw, the new release fixes six other security loopholes, with Google specifically listing four high-severity vulnerabilities where fixes were contributed by external researchers. The first, indexed as CVE-2021-21222, also affects the V8 engine, however this time it is a heap buffer-overflow bug.
The second flaw, tracked as CVE-2021-21225, also resides in the V8 component and manifests as an out-of-bounds memory access bug. As for CVE-2021-21223, it is found to affect Mojo as an integer overflow bug. The fourth high-severity vulnerability, labeled CVE-2021-21226, is a use-after-free flaw found in Chrome’s navigation.
READ NEXT: Google: Better patching could have prevented 1 in 4 zero‑days last year
“Successful exploitation of the most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the browser. Depending on the privileges associated with the application, an attacker could view, change, or delete data,” warned the Center for Internet Security.
As is common with such releases, the tech titan has not disclosed any further details about the security loopholes until most users have had a chance to update their web browsers to the newest available version, mitigating the chance of the vulnerabilities being exploited by threat actors.
The Government Computer Emergency Response Team Hong Kong (GovCERT.HK) issued a security alert advising users and system administrators to update their browsers. “Users of affected systems should update the Google Chrome to version 90.0.4430.85 to address the issue,” said the agency.
Considering the disclosed vulnerabilities, users would do well to update their browsers to the latest version (90.0.4430.85) as soon as practicable. If you have automatic updates enabled, your browser should update by itself. You can also manually update your browser by visiting the About Google Chrome section, which can be found under Help in the menu bar.
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