In the age of technology, the dark web is not far behind. Very often, we come across news of severe data breaches at global corporations.
As organizations continue to keep millions of files unprotected, the risks have increased manifold.
According to the 2019 Midyear Quick View Data Breach Report, there were more than 3800 data breaches in the first six months of 2019 and almost 4.1 billion files were comprised.
While you may think that hackers only target large enterprises, almost 43% of cyber attacks have been against small businesses.
As data breaches at major corporations cost millions of dollars, you may as well imagine the costs for a small business.
Hence it becomes necessary to install an SSL certificate as a primary security to safeguard the website.
For instance if you have a small businesses with low volume transactions then Comodo PositiveSSL is an ideal option. In this article, we will discuss the risks involved if you do not install an SSL certificate.
MITM Attack
A Man in the Middle attack usually occurs in non-HTTPS sites where the hacker make a position in communication between an application and the user. The third-party has a motive to impersonate one of the parties and gather confidential information.
These hackers are mainly on the lookout for account details and financial information like debit or credit card numbers. Another way of operation for these hackers is that they create a landing page that imitates your banker.
You unknowingly enter the banking details, and the hacker can get your information. So, always be on the watch when visiting non-HTTPS websites.
To prevent these attacks, users must avoid free public wi-fi connections and must not visit non-HTTPS websites. Users must log out from secure sites when they are not using it.
Downranking Of Websites
Search engines also declared that sites that were secured and supported the HTTPS protocol would be prioritized over the non-HTTPS websites during search rankings. To prevent this from happening, it is suggested that you procure an SSL certificate that would cater to all your domains.
Once the ranking of your website goes down, its visibility reduces. As a result, a lesser number of visitors will visit your site. It will lead to a further reduction in the website rankings.
Phishing Attacks Copying Your Site
Scamsters have initiated an innovative way of fleecing internet users. They deceive by taking up the identity of a renowned website and mislead users.
Victims open an email or a text and are led to a malicious link. Once the victim clicks onto the link, it takes them to a URL to reveal their sensitive information.
It could have harmful results and could lead to identity theft or unauthorized transfer of funds.
The best way to prevent these attacks is to be vigilant. Very often, the URL of phishing websites will have small changes in spelling or other subtle differences from the renowned site. Another way of mitigating this risk is to deploy two-factor authentication.
Loss Of Customers’ Trust
Not installing an SSL certificate makes the browsers mark it as “not secure”. I have personally seen visitors write comments about the website that it does not communicate over a secure connection.
Thus, we see that a mere SSL certificate could lead to users losing trust in the website and thereby, the brand that the site represents.
Different browsers may have different ways to mark a website as insecure but with a shared mission to safeguard the interests of the users. The only way to mitigate this is to procure an SSL certificate.
Risk Of A Data Breach
If your site does not have an SSL certificate, the communication between your web server and the visitor is open to be intercepted by any third-party.
As the communication bridge is not encrypted, attackers can easily have access to all the data stored in your servers.
The cost of a data breach could easily reach millions of dollars.If you extrapolate this information to the number of records you store, you will find it to be a significant figure. Hence, it will be safe to say that you need to procure an SSL certificate soon.
Damage To Your Brand
A data breach can lead to stringent action by government authorities as per the laws and regulations of the country which range from a financial penalty, lawsuits or even imprisonment.
Moreover, a data breach also means severe damage to your brand image. Your prospects and customers will think twice before entering into a transaction with your business.
In the event of a breach, your brand will be tarnished by the media. The bigger the brand, the more significant the effect will be. You would need to spend a considerable amount of resources on rebuilding the trust in your brand.
Distrust By Web Browsers
In July 2018, Google came up with an update that started telling users that HTTP sites were “not secure”. All web browsers had to ensure the security of user information and started to penalize non-HTTPS websites.
As these websites started being marked as insecure, it saw a drastic reduction in traffic. Such a drastic reduction in traffic also resulted in dropping of search rankings for these websites.
Apart from Google, Internet Explorer and other web browsers are also marking non-HTTPS websites as insecure.
Conclusion
Large organizations always face the risk of data breaches. There have been significant data breaches every year with the risks for small businesses equally high.
To prevent a data breach, the communication between your web server and the visitor must be encrypted. It can be done deploying the HTTPS protocol and installing an SSL certificate.
Non-HTTPS website also faces the risk of losing the trust of web browsers leading them to be marked as insecure.
It will, in turn, lead to a loss of faith in the minds of its target market. A data breach can lead to significant loss resources and penalties from the government authorities.
We have discussed the risks associated with continuing with a non-HTTPS site. We sincerely hope you will pay heed to these risks and take steps to mitigate these risks.
