It was always coming. It was just a matter of time. Facebook today have announced that they are adding the ability to access the site via a secure connection https. Today is it launched in the US with a global roll out soon. This is the latest in a number of actions taken by Facebook to reassure users of the security and privacy.

Many of you probably don’t know what https means but I can guarantee you if you bought anything online, you have some across it. HTTPS combines http and SSL security protocols that encrypt your information and protect it from hackers. This is obviously important with any online purchases including your credit or debit cards.You will see it in the URL at the top of your web browser. Normally it would say http (hypertext transfer protocol). It is also highlighted in green.

The main problem this solves is using Facebook over a public wifi. Up until now. other people on the public wifi could access your Facebook information and use it against you. This feature can be found under your account settings page. Recent Firefox addons such as Firesheep allowed access to much of your personal information when using a shared wifi.

Some sections of Facebook are exempt from the service such as some third party apps. It will also probably slow down your navigation throughout the site. This is obviously much more of an issue for those operating still on dial up modems. But an improvement is always appreciated, especially in a week I got a call from the credit card company asking if I had spent €400 on online poker.