The Dangerous Illusion of HTTPS: Why the Padlock Isn’t Enough

For decades, Internet users have been told to “look for the padlock” in their browser before entering sensitive information. That padlock, indicating a website is using HTTPS, has become shorthand for safety.

But here’s the problem: The padlock does not guarantee a website is safe to visit. It only means that data sent between your browser and the website is encrypted. In today’s threat landscape, malicious sites can easily obtain HTTPS certificates, making them appear just as “secure” as legitimate sites.

So, the question is: “Is HTTPS secure?” Yes, but only in a limited way. The more important question is: Does HTTPS mean a website is safe? Not necessarily.

Is HTTPS Actually Secure?

Yes, HTTPS is secure for protecting data in transit. Think of it like sending a letter in a tamper-proof envelope. The contents are scrambled into an unreadable code using strong encryption protocols, so if someone intercepts the letter mid-delivery, all they see is gibberish. This is why it is trusted by legitimate businesses everywhere, from banks processing online transfers to e-commerce sites handling your credit card information. Without HTTPS, sensitive data like passwords, payment details, or personal messages could be intercepted and read in plain text.

However, that is where HTTPS’s protection stops. The envelope analogy still holds: If you address that tamper-proof envelope to a scammer instead of a trusted recipient, it will still arrive perfectly intact, but in the wrong hands. HTTPS does not inspect the destination for legitimacy, block malicious content, or protect you from phishing, malware, or fraudulent activity. A malicious site with HTTPS will faithfully encrypt your data, then deliver it securely to the attacker who set up the trap.

This is why HTTPS websites are not necessarily 100% secure. Encryption is an essential piece of the security puzzle, but it is not the entire picture. Without additional layers of verification like DNS filtering and threat intelligence, the “secure” padlock can become a false sense of comfort.

What HTTPS Actually Does

• Encrypts the data between your browser and the site’s server.
  
  
• Prevents “man-in-the-middle” interception during transmission.
  
  
• Uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) for authentication and encryption.

If you are logging in to a legitimate site or making an online purchase, HTTPS ensures your credentials or payment information cannot be read or altered during transfer. This is essential for online privacy and trust.

What HTTPS Doesn’t Do

• It does not vet the content or purpose of the website.
  
  
• It does not protect you from phishing or malware.
  
  
• It does not guarantee the site’s operator is who they claim to be.

The padlock icon is like a sealed envelope: No one can see inside as it travels to its destination. But if that destination is a scammer’s mailbox, encryption does not protect you from the fraud. And because HTTPS is built on SSL/TLS technology, these same limitations apply to SSL itself. 

The Rise of Malicious HTTPS Sites

In the early days of the web, HTTPS certificates were expensive, required manual validation, and served as a strong trust signal for users.

Today, free certificate authorities have democratized encryption, which is a win for privacy—but it has also handed cybercriminals an easy way to make dangerous sites look legitimate. According to the Hoxhunt Phishing Trends Report, approximately 80% of phishing websites now feature HTTPS, making them appear secure at first glance.

Attackers are not just adding a padlock for encryption, they are hijacking the very trust it was meant to inspire. Certificates confirm domain ownership, but they say nothing about the site’s purpose, safety, or intent. This allows fake e-commerce stores, phishing portals, and malware delivery sites to blend in with legitimate businesses, making it harder than ever for users to spot the difference.

The DNS Layer: What HTTPS Can’t See

Before you even connect to a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup that translates the domain name into an IP address. Is HTTPS always secure during this step? No, because HTTPS does not encrypt it by default.

Unencrypted DNS queries can:

• Reveal which websites you are visiting
  
  
• Be intercepted and redirected through DNS hijacking
  
  
• Be spoofed to send you to a lookalike malicious domain

This is where attackers can exploit another blind spot. Even if the final destination uses HTTPS, a manipulated DNS query can lead you to a fake, dangerous site. DNS encryption protocols like  DNS over TLS (DoT) and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) help secure these lookups, but encryption alone does not stop you from connecting to a harmful site. At the DNS layer, filtering combined with real-time threat intelligence adds the protection HTTPS cannot—blocking malicious domains before you ever make the connection.

Case Study: How Phishers Exploit HTTPS

You get an email that looks like it is from your bank:

“Your account has been suspended. Click here to restore access.”

You click the link and land on a page that looks identical to your bank’s login portal. The URL shows HTTPS, the padlock is there, and everything feels legitimate. You log in.

But the site is a phishing page. It has HTTPS because the attacker got a certificate, just like any legitimate site would. Your credentials were transmitted securely—straight into the attacker’s database.

Can HTTPS be fake? The encryption is real, but the safety is an illusion.

With a  DNS blocker in place, the malicious domain would have been checked against threat intelligence databases before your browser ever connected. Known phishing domains are blocked instantly, and advanced systems can detect newly registered or suspicious lookalike domains (e.g., mybánk[.]com) in real time. This means you would never have even reached the fake login page, protecting your credentials before they were at risk.

DNS Filtering: The Missing Layer of Trust

Relying solely on HTTPS is like locking your front door but leaving it open to anyone who knocks politely. You need another layer of defense.

DNS filtering works by blocking access to known or suspected malicious domains before the browser connects, whether the site uses HTTPS or not.

• It checks domain reputation in real time.
  
  
• Uses AI-driven analysis to catch newly registered suspicious domains.
  
  
• Prevents connections to malware command-and-control servers.

With protective DNS, DNSFilter stops threats before they ever load, providing the trust layer HTTPS cannot.

Practical Security Tips

• Do not rely on HTTPS alone: Treat it as a necessary first step, not the only one.
  
  
• Verify URLs: Look for typos, extra words, or suspicious subdomains.
  
  
• Use DNS filtering: Block bad sites before you connect.
  
  
• Educate your team: HTTPS ≠ safe.
  
  
• Adopt Zero Trust principles: Never assume safety based on surface indicators.

Trust, But Verify

Is it safe to visit HTTPS sites? Safer than unencrypted ones, yes, but only if the site itself is legitimate. Remember: Encryption protects the channel, not the content.

To truly protect users, you need both encryption and verification. HTTPS handles the first. DNS-layer protection handles the second.

Move beyond the illusion. Book a DNSFilter Demo and learn how to secure your network at the DNS layer, where real protection begins.