So, what is this https thing that I keep seeing over and over again? The name HTTPS comes from Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure, the original name of the protocol is HTTP , the key letter here is the “s” in HTTPS, which stands for secure . When you send and receive data through a browser , it can be done in two ways. Either standard or secure . When you visit sites that use standard HTTP, it means that your communication with the server is unencrypted. In most cases, this is singapore b2b leads
fine, since you are probably only reading the site’s content and not providing valuable private data. But in cases where you are providing personal information (especially billing, banking, or identity data), this is not optimal, since a potential attacker can intercept this data and change it on the fly. Which in turn can lead to hacking attempts or theft. This means that for online businesses and secure e -commerce websites, using HTTP is absolutely unacceptable . Sharing private data like credit card transactions requires the use of HTTPS, but with the current rise in hacker activity, the demand for what Google calls HTTPS Everywhere is growing every day.
Contents hide
1 Why HTTPS is Becoming More Important
1.1 HTTPS has had many shortcomings in the past
1.2 SSL version 3 is now obsolete
2 More CPU power, Let's Encrypt, TLS and HTTP/2 changed the game
2.1 Let's Encrypt
2.2 Google is already promoting HTTPS with SEO Ranking Boost
2.3 Google Chrome to Get Warning in 2017
3 Summing up
3.1 Related publications:
Why HTTPS is Becoming More Important
Now that you know what HTTP is, it’s important to understand why it’s important. Simply put: HTTPS helps keep your online experience secure . An HTTP site that’s not encrypted can be more susceptible to attacks . Hacked sites can also lead to malware being installed on them , which impacts readers because malware also impacts browsers. This situation is becoming increasingly important as automated hacking attempts occur around the world. Using HTTPS will help negate many of these attacks by moving all data transfers to encrypted connections that are harder to crack.
Using HTTPS can lead to a safer, more secure web. But it’s still a long way off, and there’s still a lot to do before HTTPS becomes universal. It’s also important to remember that HTTPS isn’t the only factor to consider when creating secure websites — there are many other steps web managers should take to ensure a secure blog.
HTTPS has had many shortcomings in the past
Why is HTTPS becoming more important now ? HTTPS has struggled to gain traction in the past because SSL certificates (the actual web documents responsible for creating the encryption mechanisms) were not free. Instead, they had to be issued by specific certificate authorities in order to be valid.
So the only option for those on a budget was “self-signed” certificates. These certificates are not a viable alternative as they will issue a warning in your browser . The warning from self-signed certificates is enough to block readers from trying to access your site as it may seem too dangerous to ignore. This makes “self-signed” certificates useless for any serious attempt to grow your online presence. However, they can still only be used for sites that are part of your own network and have internal access , and this does not do much to grow your brand online. This has become a huge disadvantage for bloggers and small businesses around the world. While large companies have no problem with the cost, bloggers on a budget who are not yet making enough income from their site simply cannot afford to pay for such certificates. And with no reliable alternative , they are forced to use SSL . On top of that, once the site was loaded with HTTPS, the site’s load times suffered. This was due to the additional overhead that the server had to bear due to the need to encrypt all data before sending it. Not at all an efficient process if you wanted and could afford it in the first place.
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SSL version 3 is now obsolete
To top it all off, current SSL certificates were running on an outdated platform. The latest version of SSL, called version 3, which was launched in 1996, was increasingly found to have flaws, so many that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) decided to deprecate it.
The new TLS protocol is much more secure in every way, which has led to SSLv3 being completely banned in major browsers.
More CPU power, Let's Encrypt, TLS and HTTP/2 have changed the game
With the advent of new hardware, faster processors, faster web servers (like nginx & lighttpd), and faster caching mechanisms (like varnish), the overhead of supporting HTTPS has been greatly reduced. This means that new SSL adopters don’t have to worry about slower load times . Additionally, the new TLSv1.2 protocol introduced for SSL has made SSLv3 obsolete and paved the way for faster SSL adoption. Additionally, the recent launch of HTTP/2 will be the final nail in the coffin for HTTP advocates. HTTP/2 is an improved protocol over the original HTTP that was designed and developed for today’s needs. Unencrypted HTTP is an older protocol that works just fine, but isn’t as optimized for modern needs (don’t worry – we’ll cover HTTP/2 in a future article ).
HTTP/2 uses multiplexing to improve performance over traditional HTTP. Image courtesy of CloudFlare . These (and other) factors combine to m
