Why you shouldn’t wait to upgrade your website to HTTPS

As we have been talking about in our blogs for the past year or so, Google is moving towards a more secure web for its’ users by strongly advocating the adoption of HTTPS encryption. Last week they finally announced the date when their Internet Browser Chrome will begin to explicitly warn users if a site is insecure.

What does this mean for HTTP sites?

With the release of Chrome 68 in July 2018, Chrome will now mark all HTTP sites as “not secure”. This will surely negatively impact the confidence users have in using these sites. Google believes that users need to trust you if they are going to hand over their personal information. And, by transitioning to HTTPS you are helping to make the web safer for everyone. 


HTTPS can also help you to be GDPR compliant

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new EU regulation aimed at helping to strengthen data protection. Essentially it says to businesses that they if they want to provide goods and services to EU citizens then they need to look after their personal data. 

Websites that use HTTPS send data over an encrypted connection, so it could be said that if you have an SSL certificate (part of making your website HTTPS) you are well on your way to making your website GDPR compliant.

How to get HTTPS

The process of upgrading involves the purchase of a TLS SSL Secure Certificate. You will need your current website provider to install this on the server where the website is hosted. They will also need to set up the new HTTPS pages for your website and then redirect the old HTTP pages to these new ones. The time it takes will vary depending on the size of the website that you have, But the process is relatively simple.

Ascensor have been gradually upgrading our client sites throughout the past year, there have been a lot to get through and we have much more to do, but now the Google announcement has been made, time is of the essence. 

If you do not have a plan in place or you need further advice, then please get in touch and we can advise you further and provide the information you need to supply to your website agency.


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