Google announced that beginning in July 2018 their Chrome browser will be marking websites that do not have a valid SSL security certificate as “not secure”. Today, many people have already heard about various data breaches due to a lack of security or bad data handling practices. If your business website is shown to be “not secure” to a customer, they will likely think twice before using your website. You can put your customers as ease by installing a SSL security certificate to protect their data.
What is a SSL security certificate?
The acronym for SSL is Secure Sockets Layer, this is an encryption technology was that originally developed by Netscape. SSL creates an encrypted connection between your website’s server and your customer’s web browser. This prevents private information from being tampered, forged or stolen when it is being transmitted over the Internet.
Why should I secure my website with a SSL security certificate?
When your website is secured with a valid SSL certificate, all data transmitted from your website will be encrypted so that only the intended recipient can view it. This is especially important if you are running an e-commerce website that processes credit card payments. You don’t want thieves to be able to easily steal your customer’s credit card information.
But even if you are not running an online shopping site, you should still secure your website if you have any type of form that collects information from your visitors. For example, if you have a contact form that requires users to submit their name, email, phone and/or address; you don’t want their personal information to be stolen by hackers and resold in the black market.
Where to get a SSL certificate for my website?
Getting a SSL certificate can be done through your website hosting provider. Pricing will vary depending on the type of SSL certificate that you purchase. For many small business owners, a cheaper certificate will provide the same level of data encryption as the more expensive ones. If you’re a medium or large business, it may be worth the added cost to get the more expensive organization validated certificates.
How to determine if my website is secure?
To find out if you’re website is secured with a valid SSL certificate is simple. First, go to your website’s home page and look in your browser’s address bar. If your website’s URL begins with “https”, then the site is using the secure protocol. Next, you should verify to see if there is a green lock icon next to the URL. Sometimes, if the SSL certificate was not setup properly you may see the “https” protocol but no green lock icon. Without the green lock icon being present, that means your website is not completely secure yet. This usually happens when the web page is loading insecure resources (i.e. image files) using the “http” protocol instead the secure “https” one.
You can read the full details of Google’s announcement on their blog post titled, “A secure web is here to stay“.
Do you have any questions about your website’s security, send us a message on our contact page. If you need a new website or a redesign of your existing website, take a look at our website design & development services or check out some of the latest projects on our website portfolio page.
We also offer website hosting and support services through our website care program. Both of our current plans now include SSL security certificates for free, no need to pay an additional fee to fully secure your website. Let us take care of your website so you can focus on your business.