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Data Security Explained: The Importance of SSL Encryption

admin : July 10, 2019

Hosting

Data Security Explained: The Importance of SSL Encryption

Everything on the web should be secure—and that means your website should be, too. Since setting up SSL encryption on a site is a straightforward and inexpensive process, there’s no reason why every website shouldn’t be encrypted. Keep reading to learn more about encryption and why you should make it a priority for your website.

What is SSL Encryption?

Encryption is the conversion of electronic data into another form that cannot be understood by anyone except authorized parties. Overall, encryption is the most effective way to achieve data security. To read an encrypted file or an encrypted message, you must have access to a secret key that allows you to decrypt it.

Why SSL Encryption Is Important

Here are just a few reasons why I think SSL encryption is important for every website:

Google Likes It

Security is a top priority for Google, and they’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal. In the recent past, Google has been running tests that take into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in their search ranking algorithms. While it’s not a large signal at this point, it’ll grow to become a more important signal over time. Even if there isn’t any sensitive information on or being transmitted through your website, it’s still important to encrypt the communication between your website and your visitors.

It's Expected

Everyone accessing content and services online expects that their experience is secure, and your website is no different. With all the credit card and personal information hacks that you hear about in the news, SSL encryption is an easy first step to ensure that any information going in and out of your website is secure.

Strengthens Loyalty

Using encryption on your website enhances trust between you and your website visitors, so they’ll be more likely to come back to your site. It’s not worth risking the trust between you and your customers and prospects by not having your website traffic encrypted.

How to Get an SSL Certificate

There are many vendors that provide SSL certificates, and there are many different types of certificates you can get. The type you choose for your website depends on how many domains you want to secure and what level of security, business validation, and insurance you’re looking for.

SSL certificates can be purchased for 1 year or multiple years. I always recommend purchasing multi-year certificates since it eliminates the cost of having to renew it and re-install it each year (3–5 years is a good guideline, depending on how long you plan to use the URL you’re securing).

If you buy a wildcard or a multi-domain certificate, you can use the same certificate to secure more than one website or online service. For example, since we have a wildcard certificate for our root domain of onsharp.com, we can secure not only our company’s external website (www.onsharp.com), but we can also secure all of our internal systems that we host that are accessible from the internet, including our project management system, ticketing system, and our intranet. These are all hosted under separate URLs.

Let Us Do What We Do Best

If you’re not a systems administrator, the process to get SSL encryption on your website can be tricky and confusing. That’s where we come in. At Onsharp, we have experts who can help make it easy for you by getting your certificate, installing it, and setting up your website to force all traffic to be encrypted. We’ll work with you to make sure you select the right SSL certificate for your current and future needs.

If you’re ready to make your website more secure, get in touch with one of our business development consultants or learn more about our website development services.