Not having SSL on your website when working over public wifi is like shouting your username and password to everyone in the coffee shop; and hoping nobody uses it.
You should use SSL on your website to protect yourself and your visitors. In short, SSL protects your visitors by keeping their actions on the web private between them and your sites.
Use SSL to Protect Your Visitors
The three main benefits of SSL are:
- Confidentiality (The data in the browser is secret between the user and your website.)
- Integrity (The content the visitor sees is what your website actually sent to them; not maliciously modified.)
- Authenticity (The visitor is sending data to the intended recipient.)
Without SSL there is no guarantee that any of the above three things are true. SSL has also become the standard rather than the exception on the web, it is not only for websites that need to communicate sensitive data anymore. The need for SSL is being reinforced by browsers showing increasingly insistent warnings when communicating with non-SSL sites. Specifically, Google Chrome has designated July 2018 as when it will begin marking websites not supporting SSL as ‘Not Secure’.
Beginning in July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure”.
Source: A secure web is here to stay
Google Security Blog
Use SSL to Protect Your Business
Should you use SSL on your business website? Definitely.
As mentioned previously, HTTPS prevents misuse of your website by blocking the tampering of communications between your website and your users’ browsers. This means it encrypts customer information sent to you via contact forms and user logins.
Benefits of Using SSL
There is more to SSL than web security. Some examples:
SSL is a requirement for many cutting-edge features and enabling new technologies. Modern browsers enable advanced features (eg. HTTP/2 protocol) that speed up web traffic; if you are using it.
Since 2014, Google has used SSL as a ranking signal in it’s SEO scores. SSL not only improves your perception with search engines, like Google, but also improves visitors perception of your business’s credibility.
Set Up SSL
The good news is that it is easier than ever to get SSL on your website. The actual SSL Certificate files that were once costly can now be obtained for a reasonable cost. The installation and renewal process is now more streamlined than ever.
Because every website is unique, there is still some oversight and care required to set up SSL. This is where we come in! We’re happy to obtain, install and configure SSL for our clients. We encourage you to contact us to set up SSL on your website.
