You’d be surprised how many times someone thought they were browsing a secure website because of the lock icon appearing in Chrome. And the truth is that no, the padlock does not mean that you are protected from what you are going to find on the page. Keep reading so that we can explain exactly what its function is and thus avoid exposing yourself to risks.
If you have been confused by the presence of the lock in the Chrome navigation bar, do not worry, you are not the only one. There are many people, old and young, who have fallen victim to this type of problem. Google has also noticed this and, at least, has already revealed its plans to remove it. But for now, it’s still something to be aware of.
getting confused is easy
This is what happens to many people. They browse social networks, such as Facebook, and click on interesting ads they find. A large number of them redirect to scam online shops that have been designed solely to scam users. They look like real stores and also have the lock icon in the upper left corner of the screen. That makes users think they are in a “legal store.” But, of course, it is not so.
When they make the purchase in question, they find that the order never arrives, that something other than what they bought arrives, or even that the data you send to the store may end up in the wrong hands. However, normally the scam is found in the theft of the amounts paid in exchange for the products, which usually never arrive.
But the confusion not only generates problems in online stores, but in any other type of website. For example, it is very common to trust download pages or other types of websites where, when you see the padlock, you think they are safe and there is no risk with them. However, the padlock does not mean that. A page with the padlock on it can scam you out of buying something, it can put a malware file on your computer, or it can attack you in many other ways that even Chrome’s antivirus couldn’t stop. Therefore, in these times, you should not give the padlock any kind of value. Google, as we are going to explain to you, knows this well.
The fall from grace of the padlock
The lock in Chrome is representative of the presence of a secure connection established with HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). Initially it was a trend in financial pages, but as time went by it was established in all kinds of web pages. It became so relevant that it became a requirement for all pages, as Google pushed for it. The company made it clear to website owners that if the lock was not adopted, there would be ranking consequences. Therefore, it became a norm that no one left aside.
Over time, Google recognized everything it had understood it was doing wrong. That led the company to make a change to the icon in 2016. But later they did another study and found that practically no one among the participants had understood the use of the padlock. The “invention” of the padlock came upon them and fell apart like a house of cards. However, Google does not act exactly quickly, which is causing many people, as it may have happened to you or a family member, to fall victim to phishing pages that have the padlock. The situation is so worrying that, in the United States, the FBI published some instructions some time ago in which it explained that the lock should not be trusted no matter how much security it might appear to convey.
Therefore, today, we ask you to be careful. In the future, Google has already announced that it will change the icon and that it will use a different one that does not transmit any type of security, which you can see just above this paragraph. The company wants to fix the mistakes of the past and thus prevent more people from being scammed. But now it will be necessary to explain to those who do not understand it at first that the absence of the lock does not mean that a page is not secure. Because it is logical that this confusion will also occur, especially in older people.