Google Chrome is making it much easier to inspect security certificates

Google Chrome is making it easier to inspect how secure the websites you visit are without having to leave the page.

The latest iteration of the browser brings back the ability to effortlessly look up certificate details straight from the security interface in the address bar.

Users running the newest version Chrome (60) now have access to more details about security certificates and their validity by clicking on the padlock in the left side of the address bar. This will pull up an additional box where you can view the authority that issued the certificate as well as its expiration date.

Selecting the dropdown ‘Details’ button will reveal additional security information like what encryption and signature algorithms a website uses. This information though might be available only for certain websites.

Here is how this looks:

For now Google has made the detailed certificate user interface an opt-in feature, which means you will to meddle in the settings to turn it on.

Users can head to ‘chrome://flags/#show-cert-link’ to enable the ‘Show certificate link’ functionality in their browser. The Page Info bubble will begin displaying certificate details as soon as you turn on the feature and relaunch Chrome.

#chrome 60 has a flag at chrome://flags/#show-cert-link so you can view certs easily again. thank goodness! pic.twitter.com/s84DlYu10X

— _leon_jacobs(?) (@leonjza) July 27, 2017

While Google used to display certificate details in the past, back in January the Chrome team decided to move this additional information to the browser’s Developer Tools – which made checking certificates a little less intuitive to users lacking the technical proficiency.

But given that the search engine giant has repeatedly voiced its ambition to make the internet safer for everyone, this move is certainly a step in the right direction.

[H/T Leon Jacobs]