Attackers might be trying to steal your information.
The page usually gives you an option to proceed to the website anyway.
Why did I get rerouted to this page?
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
These indicate two important things.
The use of HTTPS indicates that the website uses a secure certificate to move information across the web.
Other browsers haveadopted similar measures.
Will my information really be stolen if I proceed to the website anyway?
Visiting websites that dont have proper encryption can put you at risk for a number of cyberthreats.
Your information could be intercepted as it travels across the internet in what security experts call aman-in-the-middle attack.
This process gives the attacker access to your internet traffic and any data you provide to a website.
Once intercepted, this information can facilitate identity theft, whichhit a record high in 2021.
One white hat hackerperformed his own experimentto see how easy it is to intercept unencrypted information online.
The malware enables attackers to hold users files hostage until they pay a ransom.
In this case, the Connection Not Private message is triggered because the certificate of the website isnt authentic.
What should I do when I encounter a warning like this?
After that, Schneier says it usually comes down to a judgment call.
There are ways to figure out what triggered the warning.
The message is often accompanied by an error code, which you might look up.
Public Wi-Fi is more susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks from people on your local web link.
Perhaps it does, but youre determined to visit the site anyway.
Again, be careful about entering personal informationfrom passwords to addressesas it wont be protected on these websites.
This article wasoriginally published on The Markupand was republished under theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeslicense.
