If you have any part of your business online or are planning to take it online, choosing the right SSL certificate for your business is critical. SSL certificates, by encrypting all data in transit, enable businesses to protect their users from a range of attacks such as eavesdropping, man-in-middle, phishing attacks, data theft, etc.
SSL certificates help businesses in sensitive data protection. The visible signs of data encryption in the form of the HTTPS in the URL, padlock, etc. go a long way in gaining the trust of website visitors and helps in stemming bounce rates. They affect the search engine rankings of websites too. Not all SSL certificates are the same. So, simply choosing any SSL certificate based only on its pricing could be detrimental to website security.
In this article, we give you tips to improve website security using SSL certificates and how to choose the right SSL certificate for your business.
Few organizations continue to migrate only those pages to HTTPS that collect information and not the entire website. This will cause the browser to mark those pages as ‘Not Secure’. Not just that, you will be putting website visitors at risk by having their browser jump between secure and insecure connections. The best way to protect sensitive information and minimize security risks is to have the entire website configured for HTTPS and ensure always-on SSL security. Choosing the right SSL certificate is critical even if your organization has a simple, view-only website.
Private keys are like debit/ credit card CVV numbers and are critical to sensitive data protection. By duplicating private keys or sharing them across multiple servers, businesses increase the security risks attached to their websites.
If one of the servers is compromised, all servers secured with the same private key are automatically endangered. If private keys fall in the hands of cybercriminals, they could orchestrate a range of attacks. It is also best to avoid multi-server certs and Wildcard SSL which have similar security risks as private key duplication.
SSL certificates are not a one-and-done security affair. They expire and need to be renewed on time to continue to secure the website. Certificates may be revoked or invalidated. With a robust certificate management system like Entrust from Indusface, you can monitor and manage SSL certificates through their server lifecycle including renewal, revocation, re-issue, and reporting.
Badly configured servers, supporting older SSL/ TLS versions, using cryptographic algorithms with known vulnerabilities, etc. erode SSL security. Through regular review of server settings and scanning of SSL certificates, businesses can ensure that SSL certs are properly installed, and recommended protocols, versions, and algorithms are used, especially on internet-facing services. Entrust from Indusface offers TLS server tests and crypto agility scans to assess server configurations, report low scores, and alert teams of policy/ best practice violations.
You must test your SSL certs to ensure that it is properly installed. Testing helps you to view browser warnings and proactively rectify them to ensure better protection.
Even though SSL certificates equip businesses with authentication and encryption capabilities, they do not guarantee complete website security. While choosing an SSL certificate for your business, choose one that is augmented with a robust website security bundle including daily web vulnerability scans, malware scanning, and remediation, reputation monitoring, etc.
Conclusion
SSL certificates for businesses used to be optional; but not today. Choose the right SSL certificate and ensure the effective protection of sensitive data and reduction of security risks that website visitors are exposed to.
Stay tuned for more relevant and interesting security articles. Follow Indusface on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
This post was last modified on December 27, 2023 11:47
Explore crucial tactics like Asset Inventory, Patch Management, Access Control & Authentication, and additional best… Read More
Delve into the data privacy questions including consent protocols, data minimization strategies, user rights management,… Read More
Secure Node.js APIs using best practices: Employ proper HTTP methods, robust authentication, and API-specific security… Read More