Verify HTTPS Protocol Before Opening Any Website, Odisha Police Cautions Netizens

In a bid to create cyber awareness among the netizens, the Odisha Police has advised people to stay away from websites which do not have a proper security certificate and the URL beginning with HTTP instead of HTTPs.

The department shared a tweet on Tuesday that read, “If you are opening a website, make sure that the URL begins with HTTPS. If it is written as HTTP, then in all likelihood, that might be a malicious website created to steal your information.”

“A little watchfulness can save you from a big cyber fraud,” it tweeted.

ଆପଣ ଯେବେ କୌଣସି ଅନଲାଇନ ସାଇଟ ଖୋଲୁଛନ୍ତି, URL ରେ http ଥିଲେ ଜାଣନ୍ତୁ ଯେ ଏହା ସୁରକ୍ଷିତ ସାଇଟ୍ ନୁହେଁ ତେଣୁ https ଲେଖାଥିଲେ ହିଁ ସାଇଟ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରନ୍ତୁ । ଏଇ ଛୋଟ ସାବଧାନତା ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ଏକ ବଡ ସାଇବର ଠକେଇରୁ ରକ୍ଷା କରିପାରେ । #cybersecurity #cyberawareness pic.twitter.com/qTDDMJ4Bcq

— Odisha Police (@odisha_police) March 15, 2022

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and it is a protocol – or a prescribed order and syntax for presenting information – used for transferring data over a network. The S in HTTPS stands for "secure." HTTPS uses TLS (or SSL) to encrypt HTTP requests and responses, reported Cloudflare.

In HTTP, there is no verification of identity – it is based on a principle of trust. But on the modern Internet, authentication is essential. The Secure certificate in the HTTPs prevents or helps block a number of attacks that are possible when there is no authentication.

Carelessness by people has led to many being duped of their hard earned money by cyber fraudsters.

As per the data provided by the Bhubaneswar Police, several residents in the Odisha Capital city lost over Rs 1.39 crore to cyber fraudsters in February this year. The criminals duped the gullible victims through both UPI and credit/debit card frauds.