Website Security Is Changing Are you?

So there is a lot going on right now from GDPR to Cyber Security enablement and with all that going on you may have skipped the latest news on Google regarding browser security.

Prepare for the future of a totally encrypted (HTTPS) web

The web browsers (the tool you use to view websites) want the entire internet encrypted immediately.

Back in 2016 just 3% of the internet was encrypted (Netcraft Report), Today Google measures encrypted traffic at almost 50% which is a huge jump, however it’s a long way from complete encryption.

The biggest change that has appeared is from October 2017 Google warned that they would now add a non secure label to any website that had insecure login fields (if you login to a website you would see the below), now this has been extended to now any website that has a form with a free text field (example your contact us page may have a form).

The warning will look like the above.

The most aggressive step to encourage all sites to encrypt is actively warning visitors when they visit a web page that doesn't have SSL/TLS configured.

The goal of this initiative is to clearly display to users that HTTP provides no data security whatsoever.

If you don't hurry up and add SSL, Google is going to interrupt your customers just to tell them you're not secure.

Google actively ranks websites with encryption higher than websites without it.

Back in late 2014, Google announced SSL would be a ranking signal and the power of that signal has only grown since then. This is just one of the benefits of SSL.

Think about it. Search engines want to send their users to the best possible result. So if one result is more secure than another, it's going to rank higher. Encrypting your communication is just good security hygiene.

You can read more regarding HTTPS changes from Google here.

So What Do You Do?

Our advice is speak to your web developer in the 1st instance, they will know if you are HTTPS set up or not, secondly you need to purchase an SSL Certificate, this can be done again through your web developer, however the SSL Certificates vary in performance and price.

If you are unsure of what to do get in touch with us and we can complete the process from beginning to end which is :

* Investigate your website for HTTPS

* Help you decide the best SSL certificate for your business

* Install the certificate

* Convert your site to HTTPS

* Test your website for any SSL problems.

Don’t leave it too late and be seen as a secure website today.