HTTPS by default

Google’s Chrome Security team announces that Chrome 154 (Oct 2026) will enable "Always Use Secure Connections" by default in its public-sites variant, attempting HTTPS first and showing a bypassable warning on new or infrequently visited public HTTP sites; experiments in Chrome 141 indicate low warning volumes, and the feature will first roll out to Enhanced Safe Browsing users in Chrome 147 (Apr 2026). The change excludes private/local sites to reduce noise, leverages a new local network access permission to unblock HTTPS migrations, and urges developers and IT admins to enable the setting now to identify and remediate remaining HTTP usage.