What is a secure website? How do you secure your website? What is SSL? What is the difference between HTTPS and HTTP? How do you avoid the not secure notice on Google?
Websites initially run over Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The information on the browser and web server was not encrypted.
With the invent of online commerce and online money transfer services where credit card details and passwords were transferred over the internet, the HTTP websites were vulnerable to man in the middle attack. This means a hack could access the passwords or credit card information as this information flowed in the internet ‘pipes’ without encryption. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP that encrypts the data sent between your website browser to the website server. This means if someone in the middle intercept the information, they will not be able to read the message – be it your credit card details / password etc.
SSL is an abbreviation for Secure Socket Layer. SSL is a standard security technology that enables an encrypted link between a web browser and the web server. Hence the “S” in HTTPS stands for Secure.
Ranking and Secure connection
Google, in an effort to raise awareness on online data security, Google Chrome (and other browsers like Opera, Firefox) will be notifying you anytime you visit a website that is not secure.
Below is a sample login page warning by the Opera browser.
As a website owner, you need to set up an SSL certificate that is used to encrypt data before it is send over the internet.
Advantages for HTTPS:
- You will give your customers (website visitors) confidence that their sensitive information is safe
- Google will rank your website higher if your are using HTTPS (Official Google post).
- Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, an online business needs an SSL certificate with the proper encryption of at least 128-bit. If you intend to receive payments online via credit or debit card, the card processors will demand that you set up HTTPs on your website.
At Hawlast.com we help you set up SSL Certificate for your website at KES 2,000 per year. Contact us for SSL Certificate.
