Call us now on 0151 653 3338 or email info@designated.org.uk to discuss making your site appear secure in Google Chrome.
If you have been following our emails and the news on the Internet regarding this, you will be very aware that Google have been trying to get websites more and more secure.
It started at the beginning of this year with exclamation icons in the address bar advising that if you were not operating HTTPS with a certificate then your data has not been secured.
Websites that show "HTTP://" at the beginning will at some point within October 2017, display an actual "NOT SECURE" message against the address bar at the top of Google Chrome.
Why is this happening:
Google want to encourage the Internet to become more secure so they have been making lots of changes over time to highlight this to website owners. This is for Internet users who visit your site in Google Chrome, which is the most popular browser in most countries.
Has something gone wrong with my site:
No, nothing has gone wrong with your site. This is something which Google is doing external to your site. It applies to sites that have text fields, search, login etc... Which is pretty much any site with a search and/or a login for administration or for clients.
Why and should I do something:
Your site will continue to function as before. The reason website owners may choose to do something is that Internet visitors may be put off using your site if the "NOT SECURE" is as clear as we are being warned about. Lots of people do not understand the difference of HTTP and HTTPS and may choose to avoid sites because the warning is big, bold and strong.
What can I do:
Talk to us!.
We can discuss installing the necessary security certificate that will change your site from HTTP to HTTPS and actually improve security as data between the Internet visitors browser and your website is encrypted. Such as when you use online banking or pay for something on a website itself instead of get redirected to PayPal or similar.
This is not free. A security certificate costs as the entire system is maintained and offers peace of mind to the Internet user, so certificates have a cost to them.
And then we must spend the time implementing it, which can be relatively easy for most sites.
Please bear in mind that if you do obtain a security certificate and change to HTTPS at the beginning of your address, then certain links you have manually made or enhancements to your site may no longer work as the address has changed.
We cannot predict this unless you pay for time for ourselves to review the entire site. You may have installed enhancements or created content which is specifically using your HTTP:// address.
Most sites may be just fine by installing a certificate.
What next?:
Get in contact with us to price up undertaking the task. The task of just purchasing and installing the certificate may only be and little as £59.99 + VAT.
You can either purchase a simple SSL certificate or Standard SSL certificate that comes with $100,000 warranty in the event of your SSL not being issued or used correctly. These are the usual options we work with on our hosting packages.
So potential cost to setup for you as a website customer is:
Simple SSL and setup for your website - £59.99+VAT
Standard SSL and setup for your website - £99.99+VAT
The certificate itself is a yearly fee though going forward and is affecting the entire Internet. So it is unavoidable if you consider the "NOT SECURE" as a huge negative for your site.
REMINDER: Your site will continue to work if you do not act. It is not our responsibility to do this automatically for you. You can chose to leave it and act later or not at all for the time being.
Contact us if you would like us to act for you regarding this, or if you actually want to roll this up into changes to your current site or even a brand new site if your site is now over 1-2 years old and you have done undertaken any work on it.
PLEASE REMEMBER. This is optional and NOT REQUIRED to continue running your site for the time being.
We look forward to assisting you with this or any other website requirements.