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Set Sail on the SSL
Set Sail on the SSL
February 20, 2020
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The five letters - HTTPS - that appear before a website’s domain name/address are more than just letters. However, each day millions of people venture online without even giving these letters a second glance. If you rely on sales from your website, or your site takes any kind of personal information from users, this is even more important. Your customers want to know that their personal information is safe. In fact, only about 3% of all users have said that they enter in their credit card information on websites that are not secure, or missing the green padlock. That’s 97% that may be wanting a product you have, but are leaving your site to go to a more secure site. Don’t go another day without a secure website, and more importantly, don’t submit information to a site that is not secure. 



SO WHY HTTPS?


If you don’t have an SSL Certificate, a secure connection cannot be established. This means that your company’s information will not be digitally connected to a cryptographic key. An SSL Certificate has the following information:


  • Name of the holder
  • Serial number and expiration date
  • Copy of the certificate holder’s public key
  • Digital Signature of the certificate-issuing authority


When you perform a quick Google search, a list of websites and descriptions pop up. Most of the sites begin with HTTPS while others start out with HTTP. (Example: https://visionamp.com/


What’s the difference? SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer  - which is an encryption technology that keeps hackers or intruders from intercepting any data that is passed between you the user and the website. Not only does this technology protect you against hackers and malicious software, it also protects your information from being accessed by third-parties who are studying your website behavior for their benefit or companies who want to show you specific advertisements. 


“Keeping your website secure is about more than protecting information from falling into the wrong hands. It’s also about protecting the integrity of your business and your brand. Not only does SSL technology protect you against hackers and malicious software, it also protects your information from being accessed by third-parties who are studying your website behavior for their benefit, or companies who want to show you specific advertisements based on your internet activity.”


-VisionAmp’s Owner and Lead Developer, Greg Alexander


WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?


  • Your customers and those surfing your site will be more secure
  • HTTPS is good for ranking higher in search results (In 2014, Google announced that they will be using HTTPS as a ranking parameter for search engine results. In order to help make the internet a safer place, they reward websites that have an SSL Certificate with better rankings)
  • Credit and debit card information is protected
  • Other sensitive information is encrypted
  • Your customer’s trust will increase
  • You are protected from cyber criminals 
  • The green padlock in the address bar shouts: “You’re Safe Here!”
  • Protection from Phishing (where you receive emails, Skype messages and SMS from someone pretending to be your service provider, only to realize that the moment you click through the message, you’re taken to a site designed to steal your sensitive information)


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Google and other top search engines have been trying to push website owners and creators to make their websites mobile-friendly and responsive. And since Google is used by an estimated 73.34% of users, the popular search engine has dominated what comes next when it comes to how websites rank and other SEO factors. Google is aggressively requiring and pushing website owners to implement an SSL certificate on the site. Google’s aim is to become a trusted search engine. To do this, Google is giving a rank push to HTTPS sites.  


DON’T BE LEFT OUT IN THE COLD



If you don’t have an SSL Certificate, Google will flag your site as unsafe and display a “NOT SECURE” warning in the URL bar. The number of websites you see that are not secure is astounding. Some estimates indicate that ⅔ of the web could be flagged as unsafe in the near future. No one wants to hear that a site they visited was hacked or compromised - and no business owner wants it to be their website on the front page of the paper after being hacked. 


“AMP” IT UP WITH VISIONAMP


VisionAmp is working to make ALL of our client sites secure. By the end of this year, each site that we manage will be equipped with an SSL Certificate. If you’re working with a web company that hasn’t made this a priority, let us take you to the next level - a secure level. Call 870.580.0909 today or visit us at visionamp.com.


-Written by David Jackson, VisionAmp Content Specialist


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VisionAmp February 2020 Newsletter
02/20/2020
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