Google marks HTTP websites “not secure”
Google announced that in July 2018, with the release of Chrome 68, web pages loaded without HTTPS will be marked as “not secure”.
Visitors will see this warning when browsing unencrypted HTTP sites, who will be less likely to interact with these sites or trust their content, so it’s imperative that site operators not yet using HTTPS have a plan to do so as soon as possible
Your website will be affected by this change if your website contains input fields, asks for passwords or any other sensitive data, or is visited in incognito mode.
Until recently, the need for HTTPS was only really necessary for wesites that dealt in sensitive data, such as credit card details and logins. It since spread to include protecting browsing of social media sites, such as facebook and now it is a requirement for all websites.
WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?
Web browsers now show an prominent warning whenever a web user is about to head to a site that doesn’t have HTTPS. If your site doesn’t have HTTPS, then visitors to your site will see this warning. Even though the visitor can ignore the warning and proceed, the warning page, doesn’t make it easy to continue. How many of you would ignore this warning?
WHY HAS GOOGLE DONE THIS?
The whole idea behind HTTPS is to protect internet users from hackers and identity thieves. No site is too small to get hacked. Most of this is done electronically, with no human deciding who to target. Google is trying to protect web users from spoofed and fraudulent websites. It’s also clamping down on financial fraud and identity theft.
There are actually a lot of benefits of having HTTPS
A safe browsing experience is good for business. Users that feel safe on the web spend more time viewing and interacting with ads and other services that Google gets paid to deliver. As well as the most important factor, which is protecting sensitive data that will pass through your website.
Google search ranking boost
Google announced that having an SSL certificate installed on your website will increase your ranking position, which is another great reason to use SSL.
Then, of course, visitors and potential customers will be assured that, your website is a safe and secure.
WHAT IS AN SSL CERTIFICATE?
Changing your site to HTTPS involves getting an SSL certificate.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a cryptographic protocol designed to keep communication safe over the Internet. An SSL Certificate is a digitally signed file issued for a particular domain name/domain names. Besides the domain name, the certificate also contains the issuer signature, serial number, expiration date, etc. To enable a secure connection and protect important information, an SSL certificate file should be installed on the server. Once the SSL installation is completed, you can securely access your service via HTTPS or any other SSL protocols like FTPS, IMAPS, POP3S, SMTPS, NNTPS, LDAPS, etc.
The upshot is a much safer browsing experience for all parties.
