Many organizations and services (e.g., banks, government institutions, email services) implement HTTPS and digital identity certificates to make sure sensitive data (e.g., passwords, credit card information) is encrypted and secure when transferred over the Internet or other networks.

• HTTPS encrypts the data transferred between the organization's server and the user's computer, thus ensuring malicious third-parties cannot intercept or view the transferred data.
• Certificates authenticate the identity of the organization's server, allowing the user's computer to recognize and ascertain that the server truly belongs to the organization.

If a website is secured with HTTPS and maintains a trusted certificate, a lock usually appears to the left of the website's URL in the address bar of the browser.