At San Clemente Website Design, we like to give you as much information as possible to protect your website – and your business – from imminent disasters. You may remember our tips for how to back-up your website in case of an attack from a vampire, zombie apocalypse or any other type of natural disaster.
As we enter 2015, we have reason to believe that there is one very real threat on the horizon that could destroy everything you hold dear: space aliens. We have it on good authority that space aliens are real and they want to destroy the Earth (Adams, Douglas. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Ballantine Books. 1979).
Everybody knows that the preferred method of destruction for most space-born lifeforms is breaking into websites and stealing sensitive information from businesses and their customers. It is also well-known that space aliens love friendly, picturesque coastal towns with good surf and an amazing sense of community. For this reason, we believe these space aliens may be heading straight for San Clemente. Friends, the time to protect your website is now.
Backing up your website is important but it isn’t enough against so formidable an opponent. Securing your website through encryption is also necessary to protect yourself and your customers from not only space aliens, but earth-based threats such as the aforementioned vampires/zombies – as well as hackers and other jerks who spend their time stealing information online.
To give you the best information on protecting yourself from encryption, we asked SingleHop, a managed services provider (MSP) that specializes in TLS/SSL protection (we’ll explain in a moment). According to SingleHop, only one-third of the most popular websites bother to encrypt their website in this way – and the aliens know this!
What is TLS/SSL?
TLS stands for Transport Layer Security. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. According to SingleHop, TLS and SSL are ‘internet protocols that enable secure, encrypted connections between your web browser and website.’ Basically what all this means is this: You know the website URLs that have an ‘s’ at the end of their ‘http?’ Yours would be one of them. That ‘s’ means security to customers and tells the aliens that your website is not one to be messed with.
How Encryption Protects You
We’ve all heard news stories about large companies such as Target and Home Depot becoming victims of hackers, putting their customers’ personal and financial information at the mercy of the bad guys. If it can happen to them, it can surely happen to you. Once hackers get into your site, they can access an insane amount of personal information about you and your customers that can rapidly put you out of business. Customers are likely to avoid a website that they don’t trust. Don’t be that website.
Who Needs Encryption Protection?
If you collect money directly on your website from customers (as opposed to taking it from a third-party like PayPal), you are required to have TLS/SSL protection. Also, if you keep any personal information, whatsoever, online (including a cloud-based network) your own information could also be at risk if it isn’t encrypted.
If you buy insurance policies for your business but are not managing the risk of losing everything through your website, then you are putting your business at risk. Encrypting your website, if done correctly, should not affect the way your website runs or impact your business in any negative way. The investment is well worth it. Some MSPs (like SingleHop) even offer complimentary SSL certificates when you use their hosting services. Talk to your IT team or MSP or give us a call at San Clemente Website Design for more information on how to get started protecting your business from all the evil in the universe.