How can I have complete security within a chat box?
I am concerned about security when I'm chatting through Google. In the main email page, the gray padlock is displayed, which makes me feel secure about not only my personal information, but the content of my emails.
But when I expand the chat box, the Orange Warning Triangle appears, which really makes me question if someone can snoop and see the dialogue and content. It says, "Connection Partially Encrypted. Parts of the page you are viewing were not encrypted before being transmitted over the internet. Information sent over the internet without encryption can be seen while it is in transit."
Please elaborate on this, and either help settle me....or tell if my chat dialogue isn't very secure and can be easily seen, so that I will know what to do next. My other questions are, is it only in transit that the info can be seen, or can it also be seen once it's inside the chat box? I have some anxiety about this because of the sensitive personal nature of the information my friend and I are sharing via Google chat.
Chosen solution
Hi Fence Post, web pages are composed of a range of different components. Some of these are more passive in nature, such as static pictures. Some of them are potentially able to extract information from the page, such as scripts. "Active" content refers to this second category. This article has more background: Mixed content blocking in Firefox
If you are using a secure site, ideally it should be fully secure. Google usually has its act together.
Are you using Google Hangouts for chat, or a different feature/service? Is the chat box created/supported by an add-on??
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I am so happy to see that you are concerned about privacy, and that is what firefox is for.
But what firefox cannot do is to control the privacy & security of the website you use, In your case Gmail, Its Google's duity to ensure the information shared via Gmail is ketp b/w users.
Why Firefox informs that the page is partially encrupted is because there are some data transfered b/w you and google server which dosent uses Encruption, that is why it informs as partially encrupted informing you to have a look, only Google can fix that.
Hope this solves your problem Thank you
So, what do I do now? Contact Google about better encryption?
Yes, If you need more information. But I can promise you that google won't leave simple loopholes like this, it might some other scripts that are sent without any encruption, I can't tell you whether its worth contacting google or not.
The orange triangle usually would only appear if you first allowed mixed active content on the site. I haven't seen one of those for a while.
To see what content in a page is insecure, you could try using Firefox's Browser Console (Ctrl+Shift+j). If you type mix in the search box at the upper right to filter the list, it should help in tracking down the problem. Of course, it's probably not as simple as my attached example, since that was not "active" content, just an icon, but maybe it will help you decide whether to trust the page.
Sorry to belabor this, but I am not a techy type...AT ALL.
What is "mixed active content?"
But also, how concerned should I be about others "spying" on the info flowing between my friend and me? Is it secure enough that only an expert can intercept it...or is it something I should truly be concerned about?
Chosen Solution
Hi Fence Post, web pages are composed of a range of different components. Some of these are more passive in nature, such as static pictures. Some of them are potentially able to extract information from the page, such as scripts. "Active" content refers to this second category. This article has more background: Mixed content blocking in Firefox
If you are using a secure site, ideally it should be fully secure. Google usually has its act together.
Are you using Google Hangouts for chat, or a different feature/service? Is the chat box created/supported by an add-on??
Is the ordinary "conversation" content between friends considered "mixed active content?" This is really what I'm concerned about.
Also, I just noticed something interesting. I have two Google accounts from which I chat...one is the old version and has the orange triangle. The other is the new version and has the gray padlock inside the chat box. Sounds like a stupid question but, is the new version more secure?
On the new version, should I ordinarily be concerned that our conversations are being eavesdropped on?
The text you enter into a form doesn't affect Firefox's perception of whether the page is secure.
Personally, I only use chat boxes in emergencies, so I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Google's or why you would get different results between accounts.