I’m a cancer survivor, so I don’t throw around how something can save your life without consideration, care, and thought. The Internet has a kind of “cancer” too – thieves who want to steal identities, credit cards, and money. Google, as the web’s Surgeon General, is taking aggressive steps to fight cancerous Internet thieves by flagging non-secure websites.
Think Google will send searches to non-secure sites? Google includes security as part of its search algorithm. Today, http (non-secure) websites show up in Google, but the web’s Surgeon General has made its preferences clear. Google wants to send traffic to secure websites.
Despite Google’s insistence, you may decide to soldier on and NOT add a security certificate; you don’t upgrade from HTTP to HTTPS. You’ve just decided to risk everything you have to save a few dollars. You are tripping over dollars to pick up pennies.
When the cancerous internet thieves come, and they will, whose site will be attacked first? Thieves steal from the most accessible places, and HTTP non-secure sites are the easiest places to attack. On the web, security is transitory, and that’s why you rent security certificates for a defined time instead of “buying” SSL security certificates once.
How are you risking everything you have? Imagine thieves using that “send us a message” form on your non-secure page steal your visitor’s identities, credit cards, and money. Who gets sued, and for how much? Answer: you, your business, your website, your brand...and for millions.
Perhaps your great lawyers will win your court case. Your expensive lawyers saved the millions you would have paid, but can you still make a living? Is your brand and web address damaged beyond repair? Answer: probably. Finally, you realize you foolishly risked everything, betting the worst wouldn’t happen when insurance costs were tiny compared to what you knowingly or unknowingly placed at risk.
Insurance is an easy concept and one most people "buy" - they spend a little to protect a lot. Think of renting an SSL certificate as online life insurance that costs little as it protects everything you've worked so hard to have, become, and own.
You may think I'm trying to scare you into buying something you don't need. But perhaps I know about how scary life gets in the blink of an eye. If someone had offered a certificate to prevent cancer, I would have gladly paid whatever was needed because I can always make more money. Time, on the other hand, is something we never get back.
The time to secure your website, brand, and company is NOW. Don't rent an SSL certificate because Google wants it; rent an SSL certificate to spend pennies to protect dollars. BTW, no one makes much renting SSL certificates.
Yes, the web can feel like it is trying to nickel and dime you into poverty. You rent domain names; you don't buy them. You rent SSL certificates, but you can't buy them. The alternative is NOT to have a website, but is the "less expensive" option viable? For most businesses, not having a website is the same as not being open, not being viable, and not having a future. Soon sites without security won't be considered "open" or viable.
Look at renting an SSL certificate as an insurance cost that protects everything you've built, sold, and saved. Our SSL security certificates to make your website https protected are only $149/year, and it truly is a necessity for your business.