Moving from HTTP to HTTPS
Background. Many websites still send data over the HTTP protocol. Obviously, sensitive information - such as personal records and payment data - needs encryption as applied by the secure HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) protocol. HTTPS protects the integrity and confidentiality of the data. As of 1 January 2017, if a site is still using HTTP connections, Google will define the website as unsafe. You can check the plans in Google’sSecurity Blog Post ( https://security.googleblog.com/2016/09/moving-towards-more-secure-web.html ).
A transition roadmap. The first step to take is to get an SSL certificate that will provide the necessary security for the change from HTTP to HTTPS. GlobalSign ( https://www.globalsign.com/en/ssl-information-center/what-is-an-ssl-certificate ) gives a comprehensive explanation of exactly what an SSL certificate is and why it is necessary. Woorkup.com ( https://woorkup.com/how-to-migrate-from-http-to-https-complete-tutorial ) has a complete tutorial on how to migrate your site from HTTP to HTTPS. This also contains advice on choosing an SSL certificate and a checklist for the migration itself. Tip . If you are about to renew a website or to build a completely new one, then it makes sense to implement HTTPS directly.
Other reasons for the transition. As well as security, there are other reasons why you need to plan to move to HTTPS. The performance of the site will improve, SEO rankings can benefit and by staying on HTTP, it could be that data is not correctly shown by the Google Analytics program. Finally, clients will have more confidence in the website. All of these factors can be examined in more detail at Keycdn.com ( https://www.keycdn.com/blog/http-to-https ).
Comparison sites and costs. Check out the RapidSSLonline site ( https://www.rapidsslonline.com/uk/compare-ssl.aspx ) for a comparison of the different types of SSL certificates and their related costs. A US-based comparison site which has lots of useful information is the SSLShopper ( https://www.sslshopper ).
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