As technology has progressed, we can buy our required items online. It is so convenient for us. It is also the same technology that allows fraudsters and cyber-criminals on the prowl to catch hold of the innocent and mint some money. Let us have a cursory glance at some of the critical figures for 2019.

In 2019, cybercrimes have led to almost USD 2 trillion in losses. — Juniper Research

There is some more astonishing information also:

Nearly half of all cyber-attacks had been targeted at small businesses

The internet experiences a ransomware attack every 14 seconds

It takes only about 5 minutes for a hacker to get into an IoT device — CPO Magazine

It serves best for our interest to protect our private information and not to allow it to be accessible to any third party.

What should be done is that the data must be protected using encryption techniques so that even if there is a successful attack, the third party will not be able to understand the essential information that is present. This information can be read only through a password.

So, how can the web connection be protected?

The Transport Security Layer (A newer version of SSL) is a protocol layer in the OSI model and involves high-level encryption. What happens here is that the bunch of communication is encrypted first and then forward over the TCP/IP.

In the HTTP protocol or the one that is unprotected, any third party will be able to view all the necessary information very quickly. However, this is impossible with a Secure connection.

It is why we have to install SSL certificate. These certificates will digitally bind a cryptographic key to the details of the organization which buys it. So, whenever we need to protect online transactions as well as data transfer and secure logins, it is required that we install an SSL certificate.

There are different types of such certificates. The Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates are among the most secure ones that are available and at our disposal.

It requires that the owner of a website passes through a standardized verification process and has the rights to use a domain and has to confirm its existence and has to be authorized by a competent authority which provides the certificate. 

It adds trust to a web browser

A prominent web browser – Google Chrome has come up with an update that alerts its users about any website that is not using the HTTPS protocol – in short, it marks the insecure website to its users.

There is more to this. If you are accessing webpages that require to enter financial information, Google will be more aggressive in pointing out such insecure webpages. 

So, what is the moot point out here? The web browsers also need to ensure their visitors are not shooed away only because they threw up an insecure website.

You are merely losing out because your site is unsafe. Once the users visiting your website is prompted by the web browser that they are visiting an insecure website, they will leave making you lick your wounds. We will now have an overview of how it may affect your SEO rankings.

How is the SEO rank affected by the level of website security?

Search engine like Google has taken it upon themselves to ensure a secure internet. They have made a few positive steps to achieve this. Google has factored in their SEO ranking algorithm, the security level of websites.

However, this weight may not be as high as relevant content. As more and more sites migrate to the HTTPS protocol, the search engine will be more inclined to increase its weight as an SEO ranking factor.

So, what do you need to do when you are switching over to HTTPS?

You will need to decide the type and then install an SSL Certificate. The new HTTPS website should be allowed to get crawled by the search engine. This is of prime importance. The web crawler should be able to crawl the new HTTPS website.

Be ethical and protect your customers

It serves to protect you and your customers from the fraudsters. You would not like the idea of your website being hacked, and all the user and financial information fall in the hands of any third party.

It is a considerable risk that you are taking, and it could lead to the loss of potential business in the millions of dollars. You sincerely would not like to expose your clients and the organization to such a huge risk.

The best way to mitigate is to secure your website and install the SSL Certificate. You will need to ensure that all your webpages are transferred onto the HTTPS protocol.

Otherwise, the web browsers will not accept the website as secure. You will need to redirect the HTTP pages to the newer HTTPS version. This is one trouble that will need to take for the best.

Conclusion

As we get more technologically advanced, we are also faced by the perils as well. The cyber-criminals are always on the prowl to attack the weaklings on the internet. You sincerely would not like the idea of any such attack on your website.

However, given the statistics, all sites are at the risk of being attacked. The best you can do is to ensure that the third party is unable to access the information that is critical for you and your business. You need to have it encrypted as the third party will not be able to decipher anything out of it.

Moreover, as we have seen, your visitors are also informed upfront if the website is insecure. Additionally, there is a negative effect on SEO, as well. All these factors jointly require you to ensure a Secure Web Connection and the need to install an SSL certificate.

We sincerely hope our readers will have found the answers to their queries. We sincerely look at your suggestions and comments.

Related Article: Network Security Key

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