Ahoy! It’s my first blog since recently joining the team at Sellerdeck towers and the topic today is security. The media has done a good job covering recent events surrounding the security of customer information following the security breaches of TalkTalk, Yahoo and LinkedIn. One of the questions our customers ask is ‘what can I do to keep my customer information safe?’
The world of information security can be complex, but by taking small and simple steps, you can increase the security of your website, boost your reputation and increase sales by installing an SSL Certificate.
What is an SSL Certificate?
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) creates a ‘layer’ of protection to a website. In short, it ensures that sensitive information such as card numbers or personal information is transmitted in an encrypted form – stopping attackers from intervening and stealing sensitive information.
Why are SSL Certificates important?
SSL Certificates have become the standard when it comes to online businesses such as yours. A website with an SSL Certificate builds consumer trust, and can improve how search engines rank your website.
Google – now marking websites as insecure
Last year Google announced a very important change to the way it handles websites that don’t have an SSL Certificate. From this year, Google will begin to mark websites as unsecure when an SSL Certificate isn’t present.
This means without an SSL your customers could see something like this:
This is a guaranteed method to stop a potential customer transacting with your website.
Why is it important for me to have a website SSL?
It’s important to have an SSL Certificate in order to:
- Keep your customer information safe by encrypting the connection
- To stop search engines showing ‘not secure’ warnings for your website
- To improve your search engine ranking and build new customer orders
How do I get an SSL Certificate for my website?
For Hosting or Desktop 365 customers, we’re here to take care of the installation and you don’t need to do anything. There’s no disruption or downtime during the ‘switch-on’ either. You can contact us today on 0845 129 4888 or email sales@sellerdeck.co.uk to get an SSL set up on your website today.
Need more information?
We’ve popped together some helpful links for further reading:
https://security.googleblog.com/2016/09/moving-towards-more-secure-web.html
https://gearedapp.co.uk/googles-new-ssl-changes-and-what-it-means-for-your-website/
Upcoming GDPR legislation:
Article 32, Security of Personal Data, states that the “controller and the processor shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk, including…the pseudonymisation and encryption of personal data.”
