HTTPZ: Upgrades from HTTP pages to HTTPS automatically

The pages we currently visit are usually HTTPS. One more way to navigate with greater security and privacy. However, sometimes we can access the HTTP version and the browser does not update automatically. We can make use of different tools that perform this action to offer us greater guarantees. Today we are going to talk about HTTPZ , an extension that aims to automatically update from HTTP to HTTPS when we enter a website.

The importance of HTTPS

When we surf the web we can find pages that are in HTTP and HTTPS. Today most sites are encrypted. This means that our data and information do not go in plain text and, therefore, cannot be easily intercepted by possible intruders. An important way that our privacy is always present and also does not compromise the security of our devices.

When making an Internet payment, for example, we must ensure that we are in an HTTPS site. Never send confidential information, fill out forms or make a payment from a page that is not encrypted. Especially we must avoid it when we are browsing from a public Wi-Fi network that may not be secure.

This is why HTTPS pages are very important when it comes to privacy. In recent years the number of pages of this type that we have available has greatly increased. Even many browsers already warn that we are in an insecure place when we browse a page in HTTP.

HTTPZ, the extension that updates HTTP pages to HTTPS

Generally web browsers do not try to update HTTP pages to HTTPS when we enter them. At least they don’t do it as standard in most cases. This causes that if we enter a page that has both versions but enter the HTTP address, it is not updated to the encrypted and secure version.

That is why it is necessary to use external tools if we want this process to be automatic whenever possible. HTTPZ comes into play here, which is an extension that is available for Mozilla Firefox , one of the most used browsers.

Let’s take as an example that we enter an old article, where they have links to other articles in HTTP. Possibly they were written before the migration process to HTTPS. Our browser sends us to that article but without updating to the HTTPS protocol. That is the function that HTTPZ has.

There are other similar extensions, but they usually update the sites as long as they are in a database. This is the main difference from HTTPZ , which updates all available sites without the need for them to be in a database.

How HTTPZ works

The HTTPZ installation process is very simple. The first thing we have to do is go to the official Mozilla store and download it. Once here we just have to click Add to Firefox. From here there is nothing else to do and we already have it incorporated into our browser.

HTTPZ, extensión para Mozilla

It should be mentioned that not only does it automatically redirect from HTTP to HTTPS if it is available, but it also shows us a warning in case we access an HTTP site from HTTPS. One more way to increase security when we surf the net.

On the other hand, it is possible to create a white list . We may want to enter an HTTP address that we know is secure and we are not interested in updating. We can create a list with the addresses we trust and the extension will ignore them.

In short, HTTPZ is an extension for Mozilla Firefox that allows us to load pages in HTTPS when we access through HTTP and the encrypted version is available. We already know that entering an unencrypted website can put our security and privacy at risk. It is important that we protect our data on the network and have no problems.

An important tip is that we always add these types of tools from official sources. This way we make sure that we are installing software that has not been maliciously modified.