SSL - HTTPS. How will the changes effect your website?

It’s official – at the end of January 2017 a new version of the Google Chrome browser will be released, containing a significant change that will likely affect your website.

Most website addresses you’ve seen probably start with HTTP, but you may not be aware there is an alternative: HTTPS. Use of HTTPS requires an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate to be registered for your website, which provides encryption and extra protection for data passed between the website and its visitors.

The upcoming Version 56 of Google Chrome will start displaying a “Not Secure” message near the address bar on any page collecting passwords or credit cards for any website that doesn’t use HTTPS.

This is the first stage of Google Chrome’s rollout of this feature – in due time, the browser will begin labelling all HTTP pages as “Not Secure”. We think you’ll agree this is not something that website owners want their visitors to see, especially as they could interpret the message to mean the website has been compromised.

The anticipated released date for Version 56 of Google Chrome is 31st January 2017, which means website owners have two weeks to get an SSL Certificate registered for their website and start using HTTPS.

Somerset Web Services have several SSL options available for our customers – if you’d like to find out more then please contact us.