In contrast, the IRS website not only does not use HTTPS by default, but manually typing in вЂњ вЂќ will result in a scary error message, due to the fact that the IRS administrators havenвЂ™t bothered to configure their hosting service to supply a valid HTTPS certificate.ДЄlthough the IRS website doesnвЂ™t ask for sensitive login information that must be encrypted like online banking sites or email providers, there does exist sensitive information on the website. When you visit and you see вЂњhttpsвЂќ at the beginning of the address, it lets you know that your connection is secure, and that third parties вЂ“ such as your internet service provider, employer, or university cannot monitor what youвЂ™re doing through the use of network interception technology. It signifies that Google is using Secure Sockets Layer encryption, or SSL, to both encrypt and authenticate its communications. вЂќ That вЂњsвЂќ after the вЂњhttpвЂќ may seem insignificant, but it means a lot. If you try typing вЂњвЂќ into your browser right now, you will see that the URL you end up at is actually вЂњ. Unfortunately, right now the answer to that question is вЂњno.вЂќ Unlike Facebook, Twitter, Google Mail (Gmail), and virtually every bank and credit card company, the IRS, like most government agencies, does not use HTTPS for encryption and authentication on its website. This tax season, when you visit the IRSвЂ™s website seeking tax information, can you be certain that no one else is monitoring which pages you browse?

Yahoo your connection is not private