Google Encrypts Search to Thwart Wi-Fi Hackers

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/google-search-https/

By Ryan Singel
Threat Level
Wired.com
October 18, 2011

Google radically expanded Tuesday its use of bank-level security that 
prevents Wi-Fi hackers and rogue ISPs from spying on your searches.

Starting Tuesday, logged-in Google users searching from Google’s 
homepage will be using https://google.com, not http://google.com — even 
if they simply type google.com into their browsers. The change to 
encrypted search will happen over several weeks, the company said in a 
blog post Tuesday

The change means that the communication between a user’s browser and 
Google’s servers will be wrapped in encryption by default for those 
logged into their Google account. That means that hackers, school 
administrators and nosy corporate network admins won’t be able to see 
what search terms you are sending to the search giant.

Google introduced an HTTPS search option in May 2010, but users had to 
decide to go to that page (https://google.com). Google made it harder to 
find after schools objected to the change, saying it prevented them from 
censoring and monitoring their charges.

[...]

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