Recognize a safe website

Recognize a safe website

Internet banking, e-mailing, Facebooking… wherever you log in, you want your confidential data to not be intercepted. Make sure you log in to a website with a secure connection.


Nowadays almost all websites are secured. These sites have the following characteristics:

  • The URL starts with ‘https://’. The s stands for ‘secure’, the English word for safe.
  • There is a lock in the address bar.

Https makes the following guarantees:

  • encryption
    The connection between user and site is secured by encryption. As a result, the information that is exchanged cannot be read by third parties.
  • Authenticity
    Also called authenticity. The user can rest assured that the website in question is genuine and not a copy of criminals or scammers.
  • Integrity
    The exchanged data cannot have been changed by third parties in transit.

Please note: this security (https) says nothing about the content of websites. Criminals can also build websites that work with this security. You also run the risk of being scammed. The security with https only says something about the connection to the website.

The features look slightly different in the various internet browsers on the PC, tablet and smartphone.

Edge comes by default on a Windows 10 computer. In the address bar is a short version of the URL or who the web page belongs to. You will see a green lock for this and you will see who owns the website: Lock Edge . Behind this is the complete address with ‘https://’ at the beginning.

The ‘https:’ part in the URL is green https . There is a lock at the beginning of the address bar lock. Click on the lock for more information about the set rights of the website and method of security. This is quite technical, but you can see, for example, whether pop-ups can be shown automatically. Popups are blocked by default.

Safari is standard on the iPad and iPhone. In the address bar is a short version of the URL or who the web page belongs to. You will see a lock for that Lock Safari . If you tap on the address bar, the complete address will appear with ‘https://’ at the beginning.

In Safari on the Mac, you can also click the lock icon and then Show certificate. You will see a check mark with the message ‘This certificate is valid’.

When you click the lock in Firefox lock At the front of the address bar, you will get the message ‘The connection to this website is secure’ or ‘Secure connection’. Sometimes the lock is green and you can see who owns the website: lock .

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