Website owners, you may recently have had emails about “unsecured website warnings”.
There’s a 50:50 chance this issue does affect your website. So what exactly is happening and how can you fix it?
Well users of the the Google Chrome browser will soon receive a warning about ‘insecure’ websites. To be exact, from Friday, that’s 44% of UK website users (see below) about to start receiving warnings about visiting certain websites… will it affect yours?
How can I test if this affects my website?
You might be already ‘secured’. It’s simple to test. Can you visit your website at https://yourwebsite? For example you can visit this website at https://andy-gardner.co.uk. If that works without any warning then you should be fine. You’ll see a little green padlock or similar in the address bar too. If not, you might want to take action.
No need for panic. This doesn’t mean your website or your browser are under attack or that the website is bad in some way. The type of insecure Google is talking about is insecure in the sense that the connection between the website and your browser could potentially be viewed by third parties. To understand how all this works, and what it means for your website, then you need to know a little bit about HTTPS and SSL.
What is HTTPS?
An HTTPS connection is an encrypted connection between a web server and a visitors web browser.
It makes using websites more secure for people as third parties can’t see the data going back and forth. It’s a good direction for the web, hence Google’s heavy handed approach.
What is SSL?
An SSL certificate is how one makes an HTTPS connection publicly available on your website.
An SSL certificate is essentially a file generated by trusted issuing bodies that is bound to the characteristics of the web server in question and moreover a third party guarantee that this is connection is genuine and secure.
What is the solution?
The solution is to install an SSL certificate, so users can get an HTTPS connection without a warning. In fact it should have a friendly green padlock or similar instead.
We can organise, install, and manage SSL certification for you, just get in touch!