Google Chrome will soon start trying to protect you from entering information into insecure text boxes on websites. According to a new blog post on the Chromium Blog, the change will go live starting from Chrome 86. With the new feature, Chrome will warn users when they try to fill forms on pages that are submitted insecurely.
The company has outlined a three step warning process to ensure user safety with such text boxes and forms. Basically, Chrome will do the following things to ensure you don’t accidentally send your information insecurely:
- Autofill will be disabled on insecure text fields.
- If you try to fill in an insecure form you will see a warning informing you that the form isn’t secure.
- When you submit such a form, Chrome will show a full page warning to alert you of the risk.
You will still be able to submit the form if you want, by the way. So if you are on a website that you trust, or if you’re simply testing your own website on Chrome, you can continue sending your form without any issues. However, Chrome is hoping that the new security feature will make the threats more transparent to users. Obviously, sending your data over insecure protocols means a bad actor can potentially view it, or even alter it on the way. It’s never a good idea to submit personal information over through an insecure form or text field.
The new feature will go live with Chrome 86, so there’s a little time before Chrome starts warning you of such threats. However, even now, Chrome tries a little bit. When you’re on a website that uses insecure forms, Chrome removes the lock icon from the address bar. It’s not as outrightly visible as the upcoming warnings in Chrome 86. However, you should always look out for the lock icon to ensure the website you’re on is secure and using HTTPS.
