By Jim Lapointe
Did you know that starting in July, with the release of Google Chrome 68, Google will be marking all websites that connect via HTTP as insecure ?
Google is pushing companies to create secure connections to their websites by using HTTPS.
HTTPS differs from HTTP in that it uses encryption to create a secure connection from the user to the website rather than a clear text connection that a traditional HTTP connection would create. Many of you are likely familiar with HTTPS from going to banking sites or retail sites that want to protect the communication from the customer to the website.
Is your company website ready for this? If not, when potential customers attempt to visit your site they will be see a message that the site is not secure, which can turn away potential business.
In order to allow users to connect to your website using a secure connection (HTTPS), it will need a security certificate. The proper installation of a security certificate on your web host will ensure a secure connection to your site visitors.
Please note that installing a certificate does not secure the website itself, only the connection.
Upon completion of the certificate install, there might be some changes needed to your website code to ensure your pages are using HTTPS by default. Consult your web developer for this. You may also want to discuss if other security measures might be recommended to protect your backend files as well.
Over half of the sites on the internet are already using HTTPS. Mozilla too has committed to moving in the direction of HTTPS in future releases of Firefox.