Facebook is ramping up its attempts at creating a more secure ecosystem for its users. The company announced on Monday that it is in the process of moving users from HTTP to HTTPS (secure) connections.
While the move will help protect against spam bots, fake profiles, malicious apps and other security threats, some experts worry that the more complex solution could slow down connections for many users.
Facebook’s security policy manager Fred Wolens tells TechCrunch that moving to HTTPS may “slow down connections only slightly” as encrypted pages take longer to load, but adds that Facebook has “deployed significant performance enhancements to [its] load balancing infrastructure to mitigate most of the impact.”
Implementing an HTTP connection is hardly a new concept across an entire platform, Twitter and Gmail have long forced HTTPS connections to better their security focus.
HTTPS is a smart decision even when not forced to use the protocol, especially for users on public WiFi networks. By enabling HTTPS it becomes much harder for hackers to spy on your internet activity across unencrypted internet connections.
If you absolutely hate HTTPS you can still opt-out through your account settings.
Do you think the move to HTTPS was a smart decision on the part of Facebook?
