No HTTPS = No Visitors from Google Chrome

Is your site SSL enabled?We turn to the internet for everything. From selling to buying, we are dependant on having a wired world at our fingertips. With this dominating trend, online security has become a necessity.

In 2017 Google Chrome possibly flagged your website if it did have an SSL certificate, by displaying a ‘Not Secure’ in the URL bar. In 2018, Google Chrome users will soon encounter a full-page warning whenever visiting a website whose SSL certificate is not registered with a public certificate log.

SSL is the primary cryptographic standard by which HTTPS connections are secured, ensuring that data transmitted between web servers and website visitors remains secure and private. An SSL certificate uses a public and private key to encrypt data; whenever you go to a website, an authentication server ensures the SSL certificate used by the site is properly signed by a trusted Certificate Authority, which maintains a copy of the public key. It also ensures the key is not expired or revoked.

This system ensures that visitors to a website can communicate (and vice versa) over an encrypted link, protecting financial information, passwords, and other sensitive data from anyone who would try to intercept it.  Chrome’s new policy is known as “certificate transparency.” This means a certificate authority (CA) must maintain a public log that offers cryptographic proof that the certificates issued are authentic. If a website holds a certificate issued by a CA that has not been submitted to one of these public logs, then users will be warned.

Bottom Line: Avoid having potential visitors deterred from visiting your site. Add an SSL Certificate with the help of your hosting provider and trusted technical advisors.