[Firefox Tip] Customize Crossed Out Padlock Icon and Text for Not Secure HTTP Websites in Address Bar

Now-a-days most of the websites are moving to HTTPS as its secure and encrypts the connection between the user and the server. Many web browsers have also started showing HTTP connections as insecure such as Google Chrome.

To join this party, Mozilla has also implemented this feature in the latest version of Firefox web browser. Now if enabled, Firefox will show an insecure connection (crossed-out padlock) icon and “Not Secure” text in the address bar if a website is non-HTTPS i.e. HTTP.

Firefox shows a crossed out padlock icon in the address bar for HTTP websites. Users can also set Firefox to show additional “Not Secure” label near the padlock icon for insecure websites. By default, this feature is not enabled but interested users can enable this feature using the hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

If you are using Firefox browser and want to turn on this new feature, you can follow these simple steps:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “I accept the risk!” button.

2. Now type insecure_connection in Search filter box and it’ll show following preferences in the window:

3. Some of these preference are set to False by default i.e. disabled and some preferences are set to True i.e. enabled.

“security.insecure_connection_icon.enabled” preference is responsible to show crossed-out padlock icon for HTTP websites. If you want to show crossed-out padlock icon for non-HTTPS websites, set this preference to True. If you want to disable or hide crossed-out padlock icon, set this preference to False. If you set it to False, it’ll show “Info” icon in place of crossed-out padlock icon for HTTP websites.

“security.insecure_connection_text.enabled” preference is responsible to show “Not Secure” text label for HTTP websites. If you want to show “Not Secure” label for non-HTTPS websites, set this preference to True. If you want to disable or hide “Not Secure” label, set this preference to False.

To enable or disable desired feature, double-click on the above mentioned related preference and change its value to True or False according to your requirement. Alternatively, you can right-click on the preference and select Toggle option.

That’s it. Now you can test the changes by opening any HTTP website is Firefox and look the information in the address bar.

NOTE: The two preferences security.insecure_connection_icon.pbmode.enabled and security.insecure_connection_text.pbmode.enabled present in the about:config page, can be used to show or hide the insecure connection icon and text in private browsing mode only.

Also Check:

[Firefox Tip] Restore Green Padlock Icon for Secure HTTPS Websites in Address bar

[Google Chrome Tip] Disable “Not Secure” Warning for HTTP Websites in Address Bar