The past couple of years we have witnessed a growing momentum in cyber hacking of websites and internet connected installations. While some hacking is related to damaging a website, other attacks are geared in stealing of confidential information. Although catching the hackers is elusive, protecting your website is important.
One important piece to protect your website is to install a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate for your domain. This layer of protection secures the connection and encrypts information between the user and the website. This prevents third party snooping and stealing of information between the two.
Once only used to protect sensitive information such as financial data used in online merchants, banking, or other data sensitive industries, configuring a secure website is now becoming the more of new norm.
Why? “I don’t use or store sensitive information on my website?”
The internet browser developers are now developing better ways to alert users of unsecure websites.
Traditional websites without a SSL certificate installed are labeled http:// in front of the domain address. Websites with a SSL certificate installed are labeled https:// . Website browsers in the past have placed a “little lock” on SSL sites and not much emphasis on non-SSL sites.
Till now.
Google’s popular Chrome browser will soon release a new version that will put an emphasis on labeling non-SSL sites that collect credit card and password information:
Eventually Google will roll out a version that will show all unsecured websites like the following in their browsers:
To the non-technical internet user, this message could be interpreted as the website has been compromised by hackers thus the user leaves the website immediately fearing viruses that might infect their system.
Obtaining a SSL certificate can be done through 3rd party providers such as Comodo or Verisign. Many website hosting providers have partnered with these 3rd parties to provide SSL certificates at little to no cost to their customers.
Buying a SSL certificate is easy, installing and configuring one properly can be a challenge to those without the technical experience on how a certificate works and how to integrate it into their website.
Success Media Services has the experience to properly setup, install, and configure a SSL certificate for your website. We can help you decide which certificate is best for your needs, analyze your current website configuration, and provide the best solution to secure your website.