Lets Talk About SSL Certificates & Why Your Website Need One

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Lets Talk About SSL Certificates & Why Your Website Need One
Lets Talk About SSL Certificates & Why Your Website Need One
08-27-2019 02:00 pm

The internet is forever evolving and so is the need for superior website security.  Cyber criminals have been stealing information like passwords, emails, and even credit card details for years but we're here to tell you that there's a solution to help keep your website secure for your visitors.  Organizations (like Google) continuously work to help make the web a safe place by encouraging business owners with a website to follow the HTTPS protocol.  Question is, do you know if your website's secure?
 

What Is An SSL Certificate?

"An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server using SSL technology. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an undecipherable format that can only be returned to a readable format with the proper decryption key.

A certificate serves as an electronic "passport" that establishes an online entity's credentials when doing business on the Web. When an Internet user attempts to send confidential information to a Web server, the user's browser accesses the server's digital certificate and establishes a secure connection."
- Go Daddy

In other words; An SSL ensure that the sensitive data of your website's visitors will be transferred over a secure network.
 

Is Having An SSL Certificate Important?

While there are many reasons to have an SSL for your website, let's go over a few of the important reasons:
  • Puts A Stop To Information Theft
    • If you've ever submitted information through a website, it's important to know that that information typically goes through a channel of different computers before it even reaches its intended party.  There's a good chance that the information you've submitted could be stolen by cyber criminals if an SSL isn't applied. Remember, SSL encrypts the information so that it’s readable only to the party it is intended for. It does this by adding random characters to the submitted information, which can only be accessed with an encryption key. The information is useless to anyone who doesn’t have that key.
  • Provide Security For Your Visitors
    • This one is simple; an SSL provides your visitor with a sense of security.  It's obvious that cyber criminals will always be around and trying to steal information online, but adding an SSL will help to ensure the security of your visitors information. Your website will be displayed with a security padlock in the address bar of the browser. This will indicate that the connection is secure and will show your website’s visitors that you take their privacy seriously. If your website doesn’t have a certificate, some browsers may label it as “unsafe.”
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Benefits
    • Believe it or not, having an SSL does increase your SEO in the major search engines!  In line with their HTTPS everywhere initiative, Google gives websites with encrypted connections a slight rankings boost. Although the boost may not be substantial, having an SSL will give you an advantage over your competitors who don’t have certificates yet.
  • Online Payments
    • We'll keep this one short, if you have an ecommerce website then you have to have an SSL certificate in order to take credit card payments.
 

Are SSL Certificates Mandatory?

The short answer is yes.  Google is flagging any website as not secure if it doesn't have an SSL certificate:


Remember, having an SSL will ensure the protection of sensitive data that's transmitted to and from your website.  Some of the information that can be exposed for cybercrimminals are passwords, addresses, even credit card information and other personal information.  An SSL encrypts the connection and ensures the protetion for your visitors.
Sources:
  • https://www.godaddy.com/help/what-is-an-ssl-certificate-542
  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/05/18/why-an-ssl-certificate-is-important-for-your-company-website/#3ccfc0511dc3
  • https://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/4-reasons-need-ssl-certificate-website-2018-01983024
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