As the Apple-FBI battle in the United States grinds to an unexpected halt or what could be a turbulent beginning, the world is propelled into an all new conversation about privacy and encryption in the digital world. Today, the internet is littered with mines like snoopers, hackers, spammers or even governments waiting to grab your private data at a moment’s notice.
HTTPS to the rescue
HTTPS offers an easy solution for those concerned about online privacy and integrity of digital data. HTTPS is an extension of the original HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol, with an added S that stands for Secure. It is denoted by a green lock on the address bar of your browser when visiting websites that have adopted this security protocol. HTTPS encryption ensures secured communication between your browser and the website you’re visiting. When you visit a regular HTTP website, the transfer of data is unencrypted and openly accessible to your ISP, your employer and even hackers.
How it works
When you visit an HTTPS-enabled website, you initiate an exchange of cryptographic keys between your browser and the website. These keys allow your browser and the website to “lock” or encrypt the information passed between them. This encrypted data can only be decrypted or revealed by using these keys on either end. This ensures that no eavesdropper has access to your data.
HTTPS can also demand identity certificates from websites. These certificates can only be presented by certificate authority companies like Symantec, thereby ensuring that you are not being redirected to a bogus website of the same name. The protocol also helps to maintain a certain degree of integrity and democracy of the data. This means that nobody can alter or censor pages of a website or parts of a webpage.
A long way to go
It is a surprising fact that even with all of the protocol’s efficiency and security, 79 of the 100 most visited websites on the internet still don’t use HTTPS protocol. This is highly alarming, especially in today’s digital world. The need of the hour, therefore, is for companies and websites to adopt HTTPS as soon as possible to ensure complete security of their and their customers’ data.
If you are an individual or a business looking to build better security protocols for your servers, so that you can offer your customers a secure environment to interact with you, we, at Global Media Insight, can help you out. With over 16 years of experience in website designing and digital marketing we are highly experienced at setting up security architectures that can survive the black holes of the modern internet. Get in touch with GMI to establish effective and robust security and privacy systems that protect your business and your customers.
