FTC.gov is now HTTPS by default

In another step to enhance the Federal Trade Commission’s website, the FTC has enabled encryption by default (HTTPS) for ftc.gov, the primary public domain, and home of the Tech@FTC blog. While the FTC has long provided secure transport for FTC domains that handle sensitive consumer data, such as complaint data and e-mail subscriptions, consumers will now browse the entire site more privately, and their browsers will automatically verify the identity of the website to which they're connecting -- an important step to mitigate attempts to impersonate the FTC.

Transit encryption is an important safeguard against eavesdroppers and has been the subject of previous investigations where we alleged companies failed to live up to their security promises when collecting personal information. It’s an important step when websites or apps collect personal information, and is a great best practice even if they don’t.