As part of it’s righteous mission to make the internet a safer and more secure place for everyone, Google is continually updating it’s flagship browser ‘Google Chrome’ to encourage enhanced security the world over.

The Google team have started to display an ‘i’ icon next to the website URL to provide information about the page being viewed.

In the past few months this has been developed to include a ‘Secure’ message and the conventional green padlock icon, demonstrating that a site is ‘SSL registered’.

SSL registration means that data sent through that website domain is subject to additional levels of encryption, providing added assurance for any website visitor submitting their information. This can be seen where a website URL starts with https:// rather than http://.

Websites without SSL registration that accept credit card or password information, are now being labelled as ‘Non-Secure’, as a means to encourage business awareness of the importance of encryption and data protection.

In due course this labelling system will be expanded to include websites with any contact form (which is the vast majority of websites!), and then ultimately ALL websites without SSL registration being labelled as ‘Not-Secure’.

This has massive implications for user confidence, as your website visitors may be nervous about submitting information to any site labelled as ‘Not Secure’ by the world’s most popular web browser.

Given the increasing prevalence of high profile hacking cases involving a huge variety of businesses and organisations, website security is a greater priority than ever; and we implore our clients, contacts and associates alike to treat their own website security with the upmost importance. Especially if they’re in the business of handling personal information about their clients, candidates or contacts.

We offer SSL registration assistance for sites we host starting at £10/month + vat, please contact us should you require any further information on this subject.