Google over the years has advocated for more secure sites on the world-wide web. There are many websites out there that are still using http. By July, 2018 with the release of a newer version of the Chrome browser, all websites with http shall be marked as “not secure”. Announced on the Chromium blog in February 8, 2018 by Emily Schechter, Chrome Security Product Manager.
What is The Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS?
HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer protocol, it’s a communication protocol, it’s the foundation of data communication on the world-wide web. This protocol defines how information is formatted and transmitted across the web between browsers and web servers.
HTTP is not considered to be a secure protocol, that’s why HTTPS is now being adapted. The “S” added to HTTP stands for “Secure“. This means your connection to a website is secure, messages or information sent or received from that page is scrambled between the sending device and the receiving device using a code or a key which makes it difficult for a third-party to intercept the message. This makes your information safe from hackers. That’s why you’re always advised not to give out any sensitive data like credit card details or other private information on a web page that is not using HTTPS.
Note that HTTPS doesn’t guarantee 100% security, in fact there is nothing like 100% security on the Internet. You still need to do some other security measures.
Most Web Developers over the years have changed their sites from using HTTP to HTTPS for more security and trust from visitors.
Google stated in February, 2018 that:
- Over 68% of Chrome traffic on both Android and Windows is now protected
- Over 78% of Chrome traffic on both Chrome OS and Mac is now protected
- 81 of the top 100 sites on the web use HTTPS by default
How To Get HTTPS On Your Website?
To change your website from using HTTP to HTTPS, you’ll need to add SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate to your website or to pages you want to encrypt. You can get SSL certificate for your website from your current web hosting company. There are different security companies that are offering paid SSL certificates with a payment plan. You’ve, Comodo,DigiCert, GlobalCert and many others.
If your web hosting company is offering the free SSL called Let’s Encrypt, you may want to use that instead, because it’s free and open source.
If you’re planning to host your new website, I recommend hosting with iFastNet.com. They offer free Let’s Encrypt SSL and has an affordable and reliable web hosting services with excellent support. I’m using their services for some of the websites I built.
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Security posts you may be interested in…
https://faalictacademy.com/information-security/add-extra-security-and-privacy-to-your-facebook-account
Ousman Faal [Digital Vigilante] is a Tech Entrepreneur & Digital Skills Trainer who teaches both in the classroom and online. He has experience in various technologies and likes sharing it with others. Ousman has published 149 articles on this blog. He is the CEO of Faalen Technologies and Skills.gm.
