by: Ben Howard - IT Services Manager, CISSP

Google has recently released SSL for searches. It is on by default with Chrome, and you can access it at https://www.google.com. While this is not monumental security, earth shattering news, given the option for web traffic to use SSL, you should always, always use SSL. SSL encrypts the communication between your PC and the server to which you send a request adding another layer of data security. In this case, it means that your searches and search results will be encrypted. No one will be able to see what you searched for or what results you received without direct access to your PC. Sounds good, but this doesn’t mean no one can have any clue about your searches. While your searches and results are encrypted, if you click on a link, you will be redirected to another website. That website may or may not support SSL. So, while your ISP may not know that you searched for “free music download”, they will see that you accessed websites that allow you to illegally download music.