There is no reason why you would have noticed but yesterday this blog and my main website switched from http to https. If you are a user, your links, bookmarks, etc will still work with http (you will be automatically redirected).
Many of you will be aware that many sites that need security – financial institutions, online selling sites and other sites needing added security have long since adopted https, as have many other sites, such as the main social media sites and a host of others, from Wikipedia to online newspapers. A couple of years ago Google decided to persuade everyone to switch by saying those sites with https would do better in Google ratings. Some sites did adapt – I know because I have seen them in the links on my site – but many did not. It requires some work and, for most blogs and the like, there is no need to have the additional security, you may think. They do not handle financial transactions and do not store secure data. Google disagrees.
There are lots of articles out there explaining why you do need to move to https. This is one. As you can see there is a risk on an unsecured site and now Google Chrome (and Firefox) are going to shame sites that do not have https. If you go to any site now with Chrome or Firefox, you will see at the left of the URL bar a symbol that looks like the symbols to the left, above. If the site has the locked padlock, that means it is secure. If there is no padlock, it is not. If you click on the thing that looks an inverted exclamation mark in a circle, you will be told that the site is secure or not secure, as the case may be, and whether you have or not granted the site any special permissions. In short, if anyone notices, there will be a certain shaming for non-https sites.
To be quite honest, I am not convinced that anyone is going to hack a small blog but, to quote the great Fats Waller, One never do know, do one? I shall continue to visit unsecured sites and I am sure that I will be safe. For a long time (many years ago) I did not wear a seat belt in a car but now I always do. I don’t think it saved my life but it could have done. I moved to https so as not to upset the Great God Google and get a black mark on my site. I get some twelve-fifteen hack attempts a day and not one has got through – yet. So I would hope a bit of added security for you, my readers, and maybe Google might move me slightly up its rankings.