Force secure HTTPS URLs in Google Chrome

When you access a website using an in-secure HTTP protocol, then a hacker can eavesdrop on the data that is being sent to and from your computer. This is also called man-in-the-middle attack. But if you use an HTTPS connection then all the data transferred from and to your computer is encrypted and nobody can see it. If you are using Google Chrome, then you can force it to use only HTTPS connections for many websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. which support it. Here is how :

  1. Visit Use HTTPS extension page in your Google Chrome browser.
  2. Click on the blue Install button to install the Use HTTPS extension

    Download Use HTTPS extension

  3. It will prompt you for confirmation. Click on Install to proceed.

    Install Use HTTPS extension

  4. After Use HTTPS extension is installed in your Chrome browser, type chrome://extensions in the location bar.
  5. Click on the Options for the Use HTTPS extension.

    Open options in Use HTTPS extension

  6. In the options page for Use HTTPS extension, you can add a site for which you want to force HTTPS. Type the website address like www.google.com and click Test to see if this site supports HTTPS. A message will be shown at the bottom if it supports HTTPS.

    Setting options for Use HTTPS extension

    You can click on the Save button to add this site. Now this site will be accessed using HTTPS only in future.

  7. If you visit a website which can be accessed through HTTPS, then the Use HTTPS icon will appear in the location bar on the right side. If you are not already accessing it through HTTPS, then You can right-click on it and choose Use HTTPS as shown :

    Open a web site with HTTPS

How would you know if the connection to a web site is encrypted through HTTPS? In Google chrome, you would see a green colored lock and https:// before the web site address as shown :

How to know if a site is using HTTPS