Google Chrome will block potentially unsafe HTTP downloads, even if they come from safe sites

the web browser Google Chrome is testing a feature to increase user protection that blocks all potentially unsafe HTTP downloads, an action it will take even if they come from initially safe environments.

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Currently, websites frequently use the protocol HTTPSa strong encryption that prevents other users from intercepting sensitive information that is transferred between the client and the web server over the Internet.

Along with this security protocol, the HTTP information transmission protocol is used, which follows a request-response scheme between the web server and the client that makes the data transmission request. Unlike the previous one, HTTP is not protected against third party intervention.

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However, it should be noted that although it is true that the HTTPS format gives users greater confidence, the ‘S’ of a certain web page does not guarantee that it is protected from all threats.

As Google reflects in its Google Chrome Help section, there is a way to manage browser security through HTTPS mode. When users turn on this protocol in the first instance, Chrome tries to load all websites over HTTPS and displays a warning before visiting a site that does not support this protocol.

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Along these lines, as 9to5Google has warned, the company is testing a new function that blocks all insecure HTTP downloads, even if they come from secure sites. This means that it will not allow downloads from HTTPS links that redirect to HTTP servers.

It is, therefore, about blocking the so-called mixed downloads which, as Google itself explains in the Chromium ‘bugs’ forum, are “unsafe downloads that are launched from safe contexts”which is why it has implemented warnings and blocks of unsafe downloads.

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At the moment, this new option is part of a Chrome ‘flag’, that is, of a experimental phase, so it is in trial period. However, from the aforementioned medium they point out that it is likely that, later on, this feature will be integrated into the ‘Always use secure connections’ section.

Likewise, 9to5Google indicates that it is not likely that this functionality will be extended to more testers until the release of Chrome 111scheduled for March 2023. The global launch, on the other hand, would take place later.

Source: Elcomercio

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