When loading a webpage on your internet browser, you've probably seen the four or five letters that come at the beginning of the url: http or https. While the difference between the two may appear insignificant—it's only an s and the webpage looks the same—it's worth noting. The s in https stands for secure, and unlike HTTP, your connection is encrypted when your computer uses this protocol when connecting to the internet. In other words, it's harder for third parties to see your activity and steal your information.

The value of encryption to organizations, which must be more vigilant than ever to protect employee and customer data, is obvious. How can you protect yourself and ensure that your browser always uses the https version of websites?

One solution is the free browser extension https Everywhere. Once installed on your browser of choice—it's available for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera—the extension forces the browser to use the https version of a website whenever offered, even if the site defaults to https. For more information and to download the extension, go to eff.org/https-everywhere.