Search privacy

Privacy has been a major topic in the news this past month because of the recent Cybersecurity Act of 2012 has failed to pass. Concerns about government monitoring raises questions about how to secure one’s self from prying eyes regardless of the viewer. In this weeks blog I’m going to discuss the protocol HTTPS and how it can be used to secure your search engine Google.  

            Well First, what is HTTPS? HTTPS is an application layer protocol that’s really two protocols layered HTTP and SSL that provide a secure way to transfer information to and from the web server that the web page your searching for is on. Not every web page incorporates this feature but there’s an easy way to check if it does. To do this, for example in your URL at the top of your web browser ex. (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome) your going to type the name of the web page but in front of the address enter “ https:// “.  Google’s search engine has recently added HTTPS so you can have an encrypted search from your computer to Google’s web server that keeps your searches from being intercepted by others. Enter https://www.google.com and you can enjoy encrypted searches.