Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Share this free course

Gamified Intelligent Cyber Aptitude and Skills Training (GICAST)
Gamified Intelligent Cyber Aptitude and Skills Training (GICAST)

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

3.4 How secure is your browsing?

This section is part of the amber and green pathways.

This shows a padlock with a combination lock, attached to a chain.
Figure 15

Web browsers have made it easy to determine if a website is using TLS/SSL by:

  • Making all secure addresses begin ‘https://’ (rather than ‘http://’) with the s standing for ‘secure’. Examples include Gmail, at https://mail.google.com/ [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ; Google defaults to Google Safe Search at https://www.google.com/, which means that your search requests and results cannot be seen by others.
  • Showing a closed padlock symbol in or near the top of your browser window.

Activity 3 Your own browsing security

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

Visit a website that you use regularly (it could be this one!) and find a page that you would expect to use a secure network connection. A common example would be your webmail account or online banking website. Use your browser’s help feature and click on the padlock icon to find out about its meaning.

Research browsing security online. You might find that your browser shows different versions of the padlock to highlight potential problems with the secure connection.