It may be time for your business to purchase an SSL certificate; here’s why:
Google has announced that it will be marking all HTTP pages in Chrome as “Not secure” as of this month. This marks the next phase for Google as it started in January, labeling some pages as non-secure with the release of Chrome 56. The first phase affected pages that transmit sensitive information; the second phase, however, will not have these same stipulations.
The not-secure label indicates that data is being communicated on an unencrypted connection. This is especially worrisome for users on websites that contain login information, and/or financial information on the web. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, where the website has purchased an SSL certificate. (An SSL certificate allows for end-to-end encryption and security).
HTTPS sites offer better protection against someone on the same network viewing or modifying the traffic. This is known as a man-in-the-middle-attack. During October, Chrome will label all HTTP pages where a user can input any data. This will apply to any page with a search box.
The expanded warnings will likely add pressure to site owners to setup HTTPS on their web servers, as visitors may begin looking for these labels. However, thus far, these warnings only apply to Chrome search engine. Firefox has not yet said whether it would follow in these footsteps but has begun displaying “in-context” warnings for payment and login pages.
“According to Google’s HTTP Transparency Report, over half of all pages are viewed over HTTPS on the desktop. For Chrome OS, 71 percent of pages are loaded over HTTPS, while 58 percent are for Chrome on Windows.”
It is important for site owners, particularly ecommerce sites to keep watch over this development. Now may be the time to purchase an SSL certificate for your company site.
Call us to learn more about cybersecurity for your company and customer data. (315) 292-1046 or check us out at www.ccnytech.com