You may recall that back early this year I expressed concerns that direct, obvious access to SSL encryption security certificate information had been removed from Google’s Chrome browser:
“Here’s Where Google Hid the SSL Certificate Information That You May Need” – https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/01/28/heres-where-google-hid-the-ssl-certificate-information-you-may-need
As I noted then, there are frequent situations where it’s extremely useful to inspect the SSL certificate info, because the use of SSL (https: — that is, the mere presence of a “green padlock” on a connection) indicates that the connection is encrypted, but that’s all. The padlock alone does not render any sort of judgment regarding the authenticity or legitimacy of the site itself — but the details in an SSL cert can often provide useful insight into these sorts of aspects.
After the change to Chrome that I reported last January, it was not longer possible to easily obtain the certificate data by simply doing the obvious thing — clicking the green padlock and then an additional click to see the cert details. It was still possible to access that data, but doing so required manipulation of the browser “developers tools” panels which are (understandably) not obvious to most users.
I’m pleased to report that easy access to the SSL cert data via the green padlock icon is returning to Chrome. It is already present in the Linux beta version that I run, and would be expected to reach Chrome’s stable versions on all platforms in due course.
With this feature in place, you simply click the green padlock icon and then click the obvious “Valid” link under the “Certificate” section at the top. The SSL cert data opens right up for quick and direct inspection. The version of Chrome that you’re running currently may not have this feature implemented quite yet, but it’s on the way.
My thanks to the Chrome team!
–Lauren–