Do YOU know what it means? 95% of Britons say they have no idea what this icon on their internet browser is

It’s something many of us look at every day without thinking twice.

But it turns out that most of us have no idea what the lock icon in Google Chrome means, and experts warn that our ignorance is putting us at risk.

A study by Cardiff Metropolitan University found that while 63% of people think they know what the symbol means, only 7% are actually right.

Contrary to what most people think, a code does not mean that a site is safe, trustworthy, or likely to be authentic.

Instead, a lock icon only shows that data sent from your computer is encrypted — a design holdover from the early days of the Internet when this was rare.

Lead researcher Fiona Carroll surveyed 528 people aged between 18 and 86, asking them what the “lock icon” on the Google Chrome browser bar meant.

Many participants who were confident that they knew what the code meant believed that the lock showed that the site was secure in some way.

Participants said that a lock icon shows that a website is safe, free of viruses and suspicious links, or that the site is trustworthy or authentic.

However, none of these answers are correct.

Of those who responded, only a small portion were able to correctly identify that a lock indicates that data sent from the web server to the computer is encrypted.

This came despite more than half of the group holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 53% saying they are “very confident” in using web browsers.

Locking means that communications between the website server and the user’s computer are encrypted using a system called HTTPS.

Communications cannot be eavesdropped or intercepted by a third party, but the site itself may still not be secure.

In the article, Ms Carroll and her co-authors write that ‘locking represents the fact that no one else can see the data you share but your information can still be stolen through the website especially if it is a phishing and/or fake website.’

She adds: “Compared to the physical world, the gate and the passage leading to the house are closed. This does not mean that everything inside the house is closed as well.

This means that just because a lock icon appears at the top of your Chrome browser, does not mean that the site is secure.

Ms Carroll points out that this puts internet users at risk of accessing harmful content or falling for online fraud.

“The results highlight that many participants feel that a lock represents a secure location, which it clearly does not,” Carroll wrote in the article.

“This paper briefly draws attention to the fact that the current design of the desktop web browser application is not fit for purpose.”

The problem is so serious that Google Chrome is preparing to remove the icon entirely.

In May, Google Chrome wrote a blog post stating that the lock icon would be replaced with a more neutral “set icon” to avoid misleading users.

The blog notes that only a small percentage of Chrome users understand what the symbol means and many believe it indicates the page’s reliability.

“This misunderstanding is harmless – almost all phishing sites use HTTPS, and thus also display a lock icon,” the blog says.

“The misunderstanding is so widespread that many organizations, including the FBI, publish explicit guidance that a lock icon is not an indicator of a website’s integrity.”

The replacement code is designed to not mean the site is trustworthy to reduce misunderstandings and is scheduled to launch sometime this month.