Google Chrome Security team announced here that…
“Beginning in January 2017 (Chrome 56), we’ll mark HTTP sites that transmit passwords or credit cards as non-secure, as part of a long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure.”
You may have seen glimpses of this movement when visiting a website that required credit card information, and for some – simple membership logins with no financial linking. Often, it would read that “someone” may be attempting to steal your information, and even mention the big “h” word – hackers! What this often did was deter viewers, creating a lack of traffic to the website and a need for the website owner to increase security so that the viewers would come back, which of course has angered many. But not every website that didn’t hold an SSL (HTTPS web address) Certificate showed the warning. And it was found that those users that routinely saw the warning eventually didn’t think anything of it and proceeded anyway, as stated in the above announcement post from Google.
In an effort to make the internet more secure for users, Google, not without some backlash of course, has now given HTTP websites roughly three months before their website will be penalized with this:
So what does this mean for you? Be proactive. If you plan to receive payment through your website in the future or even simply have a member login of some kind, now is the time to get your SSL Certificate. Trust me, this is not something you want to wait on. Not only will waiting to become an HTTPS deter viewers, but it will also affect your search engine listing, as stated by Google here last year. My advice – regardless of if you get information from your viewers or not, get yourself an SSL Certificate to be on the safe side. All it can do is ensure Google and viewers that you have taken the necessary precautions to keep your viewers’ information private and secure.
