Dive Brief:

More websites are now using HTTPS internet security than ever before, according to a new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Growing threats to internet security caused more large hosting providers and U.S. government sites to implement HTTPS for sites they host in 2016, providing users of those sites extra security without requiring any effort on their part, EFF reported.

Some estimates indicate more than half of page loads in Firefox and in Chrome are now secured with HTTPS, according to EFF, though HTTPS use is less frequent in certain areas of the world, including Japan and East and Southeast Asia.

Dive Insight:

The secure web connections enabled by HTTPS can foil attempts to intercept information and help ensure the integrity of information sent and received between parties.

The push to increase HTTPS encryption was aided last year in part by free secure certificate program Let’s Encrypt, which announced in April that it had issued more than 1.5 million HTTPS certificates to approximately three million websites around the world. Let's Encrypt ultimately wants to provide free security certificates to every webmaster online.