How to find why your website displays Not secure in the address bar

Overview

Recent changes to both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox (in early 2017) have started to push secure (HTTPS) based connections by default instead of optional. If your site is already HTTPS based, this could also indicate an issue either with the HTTPS certificate or server configuration. Google Chrome now has the following three status messages and icons about the security of your website: 

This article shows how you can help determine the cause of the issue.

NOTE: As of Chrome 68's release in July 2018 all sites serving content insecurely (not HTTPS) will show as Not Secure in Chrome.

Instructions

1. Firstly, if you only see the "Not secure" link only on pages where you have a login or form, you need to update your website to use an SSL certificate. For example:
   
   Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will now flag any site where you're passing details in plain text (unencrypted) as this means they could potentially be intercepted and used. Please contact your web host to determine the best way of installing an SSL certificate for your site.
2. If you have an SSL certificate loaded for your site and accessing it via HTTPS, you may still see an error message, like this one below: 
   
3. To determine why this is the case, open the Chome Developer Tools (F12 on a Windows / Linux PC, Ctrl + Opt + I for macOS) and click on the Security tab. You should see something similar to the following: 
   
   This is indicating issues with the certificate. In this example, the certificate had been generated with an older SHA-1 hashing algorithm. We have a further article explaining this in detail here. Essentially, you need a new SSL certificate generated and the best way to find out how is to contact your hosting provider.

   You may also see errors in regards to either an expired certificate or the "Server Connection" shows issues with the configuration. Again, both of these errors you should contact your hosting provider in regards to a fix or purchasing a new certificate.

4. Lastly, you may also see errors in regards to Mixed Content. These are a web development issue to correct and we have a full guide on how to find the exact errors here.

If you are a Conetix customer and need any further assistance with the above, please don't hesitate to contact our support team and we'll be able to provide you with further information.