Did you know 30,000 websites get hacked everyday?
Your Irish business site faces cyber threats such as hackers taking customers’ credit card information or your business’ banking information. Hackers could break into the site and divert all payments to their bank instead of yours.
This is why one of the most important things you need to consider is your website’s security. If you want to get the most out of it, make sure to capitalize on the benefits of SSL.
Not sure how SSL works or what it does? Read on if you want to learn more:
The Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a type of digital certificate used for data encryption. It encrypts the data sent between users and the website. It’s often required if you’re passing around sensitive information like:
SSL is now two decades old and it still helps in transmitting data over a secured network. Despite the benefits it gives, a lot of businesses delay their use. The main driving factor is its price and the complications while transitioning.
The best part about today’s technological advancements is the easier SSL adoption process. There are a lot of initiatives out there that give it for lower prices. Most providers can give an SSL security certificate without complications.
It’s now easy to install SSL certificates to your website. There’s no reason for your website not to adopt it as soon as you can. If you need more convincing, here are some benefits you need to consider:
There are a lot of shady organizations out there that profit by selling information. This issue is serious since even big companies suffer from security breaches. For example, Yahoo’s data got compromised last year, exposing the private information of around 3 billion accounts around the world.
While your website interacts with your client, the data passes through multiple servers. This goes on as the information travels from their device to your website.
The entire process can pose some risks. After all, hackers can copy information at any data stop it passes through.
Reputable businesses like yours should do better protecting your customers’ data. There aren’t a lot of things you can do to prevent people from looking into the data sent. Thus, the best way to protect the data is to send it using codes.
An SSL secure website can help encrypt data in a way that makes it unrecognizable. It stays that way for the entirety of the process. Once it arrives at its final destination, the data gets decrypted and used.
A great way for people practicing identity theft to gather information is to pose as you. They make malicious websites that look like a carbon copy of your own website. There are a lot of ways for them to make a near-identical copy to misrepresent your company.
At times, they’ll even build a better-looking version of your website to make them look authentic. Most common users have no idea whether they’re giving information to a legit business. But if you have the HTTPS designation on your website URL, you become more authentic.
This helps customers verify that your website is legitimate. Google uses a padlock as a visual cue to your customers. This means that your website is SSL secure and your potential customers should trust it.
The symbol makes your potential customers more at ease. They’re more likely to trust your business and give their patronage. This is only possible when you opt to get SSL for your website.
You need to encrypt your information if you process credit card transactions within your website. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requires SSL for business websites. It doesn’t matter whether you accept credit card payments online or offline.
It’s important to remember that legitimate eCommerce websites have an SSL certificate. You get an excuse if you use third-party payment providers like PayPal. After all, this company accepts the responsibility of keeping your customers’ financial information safe.
But if you want to handle your own transactions, you need an SSL secure website. The main drawback of using third-party companies is the expensive payments. For example, PayPal can charge as much as 5% in transaction fees.
It’s also important to note that free SSL certificates aren’t allowed for eCommerce use. You need to contact your provider and ask for the right certificate for your business. An SSL certificate might need a couple of dollars’ worth of pay per year, but it’s worth it.
If your users use browsers like Google Chrome, the browsers give them warnings. It’s especially the case when the website they’re visiting has no valid SSL certificates.
It won’t load the website when the next pages request sensitive user information. Other browsers like Mozilla Firefox followed and now uses the same process.
Google itself already proposed that all web browsers put it into their policies. What this means is that their browser considers HTTP websites that collect credit card information and passwords as unsecured. They did this to ensure that shady individuals can’t steal information.
If you have an SSL secure website, your clients will stay trusting your business. It’s the worst when browsers display that your website is untrustworthy when they try completing transactions. This can make you lose some potential customers at the very least.
Google’s policy means that it will penalize websites that don’t encrypt their information. The search engine takes it a step further by giving preferential treatment to websites with SSL certificates. Remember, improving your search engine ranking makes people more aware of your brand.
This leads to an increased rate of traffic for your website. It’s a golden opportunity that makes your leads turn into actual conversions. In the end, this means that your sales increase in the long run.
Make sure that your provider’s Hosting and Maintenance package includes encryption. It’s also important to make your package more scalable. Your provider should tailor their products to fit both your immediate and long-term needs.
If you haven’t tried getting an SSL certificate, your best bet is your current hosting provider. You need to check whether they offer SSL certificates tailored for your business. Some might offer free certificates, but it’s wise to pay for a better Certificate Authority.
If your website is at an enterprise level, it’s better to use an EV certificate. This has a strict set of authentication processes that secure data transfer. It adds more visible trust indicators, such as:
There are a lot of other indicators that can add to your website’s authenticity. It all depends on how much you’re willing to pay in most cases. It can add a bit of financial strain, but the SSL certificate benefits aren’t something you should pass up.
Securing a website needs commitment. It’s important to ensure that you give proper use of SSL on all your business websites. It’s a critical website component if your business processes involve sending sensitive information from one place to another.
The proper SSL use can help protect your visitors from a lot of potential threats. This also helps protect your business and gain your customers’ trust. The end goal of this is to sell more, ensuring that you get the most out of your investment.
The benefits of SSL aren’t something to scoff at. Do your business a favour and contact us today. We have the right set of expertise to ensure that you get the certificate you need to become secure.
