HTTPS is also a way for your browser to verify who owns the website. This doesn’t mean the site or your browser are totally safe, but it’s a critical first step toward ensuring things are safe and sound. For most sites, this is as simple as having an HTTPS – or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure – protocol enabled, which ensures an encrypted communication connection between your computer and the website. When accessing a website, browsers run a series of operations, one of which being a check to make sure the website’s security certificate is up to date.
It’s your browser telling you, in no uncertain terms, that the connection to the website you’re trying to visit is not secure, and poses a cybersecurity threat to you and your computer. Unlike so much tech speak, the “your connection is not private” warning is not coded language. What Does “Your Connection is Not Private” Error Mean?
#HOW TO MAKE MAC NETWORK SETTINGS PRIVATE HOW TO#
We’ll walk you through what it means when you see privacy errors in your browsers, and how to make sure your connection to the Internet is secure. This often means the website was simply not updated to a secure connection, but there’s no point in taking a chance – and your browser doesn’t know whether it’s laziness on the part of developers, or a hacking attempt. Most often, it’s because a website is using HTTP rather than the more HTTPS protocol. In the past few years, popular browsers have begun informing users when they’re about to visit a website that’s not trusted. Many privacy and cybersecurity issues begin when we visit suspect websites or unwittingly provide information to hackers. The web is a wonderful place, but also a point of concern when it comes to security.