If you’ve logged in to your website lately to make updates, you may have noticed a message stating that your connection is not secure. If this is happening, your website probably has the standard http in front of the website address.
What is HTTPS?
Websites with https have an extra layer of security to protect the transfer of data from the website. Until recently only large corporate and e-commerce websites had an https in their address.
The https and associated green padlock (more on this later) build trust with end users and protect your website from danger.
The simplest way to describe HTTPS is that it encrypts the data between the browser and the site, which protects the security and privacy of anything you do on that site. It’s not perfect, but it is a lot more secure than sites that don’t have that “s.” – Larry Magid
Who Should Move to HTTPS?
Due to security concerns and changing website standards, it is now recommended that all websites which include any kind of login or data transfer should change to https. This will make it harder for hackers to obtain sensitive information or modify the content of your website. This includes…
- Websites which have login access to make changes. Eg. All WordPress websites
- All websites with an online shop or e-commerce functionality
- All website where people login to access content
- All websites with online forms requesting personal information
Firefox Promotes HTTPS Websites
Web browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have already begun to transition to promoting HTTPs websites by ‘punishing’ those with plain HTTP if you have any kind of login page.
On Firefox this is most prominent with the address bar showing a grey padlock with a red cross to symbolise ‘unsecure’. In the latest release of Firefox this has become more intrusive. When you click on a username or password field, a warning message will appear telling you ‘this connection is not secure. Logins entered here could be compromised’. Google Chrome is subtler with its approach, their browser displays ‘Not Secure’ in the address bar of these pages.
Customers Trust HTTPS Websites
Upgrading to having a secure website ensures that visitors won’t be frightened off seeing that it is ‘Not Secure’, or feel unsafe by the lack of a green padlock on an e-commerce site. Some security certificates will include the GeoTrust warranty (a well-known secure symbol) to further build trust.
As more and more websites upgrade to secure https, those who don’t will seem vulnerable and old-school by comparison. It is also likely that browsers will make the differences more obvious in the future. There is a lot of media regarding website hacking and breaches of privacy making people very aware of the dangers of their personal information being passed on to the wrong people.
Google Rewards HTTPS Websites
Yet another reason to move to https. Google has stated that they want to make sure that the websites people access from their search are secure. This has translated to Google taking into account whether website are secure or not and increasing the ranking of sites which do have https. More from Google…
Get Secure Now!
Talk to us about moving your website to https. We can organise a security certificate, link it to your website and then change your website links and content to reflect your https status. We’ll also setup a Google Search Console account for you to log and track the changes. Give us a call on 021853464 or email Jo.
About Jo Lees
"We have had massive increases in both customer contact for repeat services and online sales, we are 200% happy with the results :)” - Cheryl Smith,