Does HTTPS mean you are viewing a safe website?
One of the quickest ways to look if the website you are viewing is safe is by seeing if it uses HTTPS, but does this mean it is actually safe? Well, the answer is a little muddy. A recent FBI alert discusses cyber-criminals are creating and using HTTPS website for their own use. They are redirecting users to these websites that mimic legitimate websites.
It is important to remind ourselves that when we deploy safeguards that can reassure us we are safe that cyber-criminals know this and will use this against us. We have been instructed to check for the HTTPS and a lot of us do it automatically without ever thinking about it. This can lead us to thinking that every website that uses HTTPS is safe, we forget to look at other things like the URL, does the website look legitimate, how did the user access the website, etc.