On the latest security announcement update by Google Security team, website that does not have any SSL certificate installed (that reflect with a https on the URL) will be marked as “Not Secure” by Google Chrome (version 56) effectively from Jan 2017.
The roll out will be by phase starting on the page that collect passwords and credit card information. This is part of Google initiative to make the web a more safer place . Without a SSL certificate installed on a website, data transmitted is easily being tampered before it’s being loaded up for you – imagine when you are submitting your sensitive password on an online banking or any ecommerce store that all your credit card details and password is showing up as plain text. Would that be a point of concern for you?
Eventually Google plan to mark all the web pages that does not have a valid SSL certificate installed as not secure.
How Does This Impact You?
If you have a website running with login form collection (membership website, intranet login form, webmail login ..etc) or running any ecommerce shoppin cart (like WordPress WooCommerce, ZenCard, Magento, Prestashop..etc), this pages will be hit with the update by Google by Jan 2017.
Based on W3Couter stats (as of Sept 30 2016), Google Chrome is having up to 57.1% of market share. This means that about 10 users who visit your ecommerce store, about 6 of them are using Chrome and they will be getting the “Not Secure” alert on their Chrome browser.
Based on a study carry out by Comodo, at least 24% of consumer refuse to complete an online transaction due to the website is lack of security. With the changes by Google by Jan 2017, this message will further be highlight on the browser level.
What Should You Do Next
As simple as – get a SSL certificate for your website. Here’s some tips for getting the right certificate for your website :
- Personal website with login form information – RapidSSL will be the best choice of options from just $12/yr.
- Online ecommerce store or banking website – Comodo EV Green Address bar is the best choice from just $90/yr.
Having a SSL certificate will also increase your search engine ranking in Google search based on Google last announcement back on year 2014.
