Download HTTPS Everywhere Firefox addon

HTTPS Everywhere is a firefox addon released by Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF.org) which was inspired by Google’s encrypted search page (beta).

HTTPS Everywhere Firefox addon wa developed in collaboration between The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It encrypts your communications with a number of major websites.

This addon was in beta stage for about a year (since June 2010) and now EFF released HTTPS Everywhere 1.0 and the project is out of beta. Version 1.0 includes support for over 1,000 new sites, a better UI, and performance improvements.

Many sites on the web offer some limited support for encryption over HTTPS, but make it difficult to use. For instance, they may default to unencrypted HTTP, or fill encrypted pages with links that go back to the unencrypted site.

The HTTPS Everywhere extension fixes these problems by rewriting all requests to these sites to HTTPS.It protects against nasties like search hijacking using carefully crafted rules to switch those sites from HTTP to the more secure HTTPS.

HTTPS secures web browsing by encrypting both requests from your browser to websites and the resulting pages that are displayed,” said EFF techie Peter Eckersley. “Without HTTPS, your online reading habits and activities are vulnerable to eavesdropping, and your accounts are vulnerable to hijacking.
“EFF created HTTPS Everywhere to make it easier for people to keep their user names, passwords, and browsing histories secure and private. With the revelation that companies like Paxfire are out there, intercepting millions of people’s searches without their permission, this kind of protection is indispensable.”

Sadly, many sites still include a lot of content from third party domains that is not available over HTTPS. As always, if the browser’s lock icon is broken or carries an exclamation mark, you may remain vulnerable to some adversaries that use active attacks or traffic analysis. However, the effort that would be required to eavesdrop on your browsing should still be usefully increased.

HTTPS Everywhere can protect you only when you’re using sites that support HTTPS and for which HTTPS Everywhere includes rules.

The plugin currently works for: