Can SSL Certificates protect the small business? ¨C All of This and More

You have toiled a lot to set up your business. But are you aware that your website runs the risk of a data breach that could ruin your business? A study by Verizon shows that 43% of victims of a cyberattack were small companies. A data breach can lead to severe consequences, including heavy penalties and loss of customer trust.

Are you aware that around 60% of small companies shut down within six months of a data breach? Therefore, it becomes a necessity to have robust systems in place to protect small business data. The risk of a cyberattack can be reduced with cheap SSL certificate. We will discuss how they can help in protecting your business.

Why is an SSL Certificate needed for Small Business?

Many proprietors of small businesses register their domain names and have a creative website, and stay content. They are oblivious of the risks that they face due to an imminent hacking attempt on their website. It could ruin all their efforts in one go. It is also necessary to procure an SSL certificate from one of the renowned Certificate Authorities (CA) and install it.

So, what does it do? It encrypts the communication that happens between the visitor's browser and the webserver. No unauthorized third party can access the information, and only the intended recipient can decrypt the data. The certificate can readily protect your website from man-in-the-middle attacks. Hackers can intercept the communication and make subtle changes that can affect your website in several ways.

The SSL certificates are provided only after a reliable third party ¨C in this case, the CAs undertake a thorough validation process based on the type chosen. As a result, it enhances the brand equity in the minds of the customer. For e-commerce companies, they must adhere to the PCI-DSS guidelines requiring them to install an SSL certificate.

Types of SSL Certificates

Let us now discuss the types of SSL certificates that can protect small business websites.

They can be differentiated based on:

• Number of domains and subdomains
• Validation level

Depending on the number of domains and subdomains

Single Domain SSL certificates.

They work for only one domain name as selected by you. Small businesses with a single domain can use it. No sub-domains will be supported by it.

Wildcard SSL certificates. 

They support a single domain along with unlimited sub-domains at the first level. So, for example, if you purchase your domain example.com, it will secure blog.example.com, careers.example.com, news.example.com, etc. However, it will not secure myforum.support.example.com.

Multi-domain SSL certificates. 

They can secure multiple domains and subdomains at the same time. However, CAs can limit the number of domains you can wish to secure.

Depending on validation levels

Domain Validation. 

It is among the cheapest and quickest to install. The CA will check the right to use the domain name. It can be received within minutes. They are ideal for forums, communities and blogs.

Organization Validation. 

The CA will check the rights of the business to use the domain name and request a few business documents to be submitted to validate the company. The documents to be submitted varies across CAs. If the documents are found to be in order, the certificate is provided.

Extended Validation. 

The CA will undertake a thorough validation of the organization. The issuance process is ratified by the CA/Browser Forum and required for verifying the physical, legal and operational existence apart from other parameters.

How can an SSL certificate protect the small business?

The certificates provide several benefits that can be of use to businesses. We will delve into some of them.

Business credibility

When you install an SSL certificate, your business is authenticated by a renowned CA. As a result, it increases the credibility of your business. The certificate also helps to gain visitors' trust, who would otherwise move away from your site. The visitors can look at the padlock on the address bar and ascertain whether they can trust your business.

If you are running an e-commerce website, it is also essential for you to adhere to the laid down guidelines and move to the HTTPS platform. Moreover, web browsers will not mark your website as "Not Secure," which is enough to scare visitors away from your website.

Increased business traffic or sales

After installing an SSL certificate, there is a padlock on the address bar before your website URL. And search engines like Google made changes in their algorithm and provided lightweight preference to such secure websites. As a result, it increases eyeball share for your audience, and you are expected to receive additional visitors to your website.

On the other hand, when visitors abandon HTTP websites, they also increase the bounce rate. It becomes more pronounced for e-commerce sites. An increase in the bounce rate can also lead to a significant drop in rankings for your website.

Protects business data

The SSL certificate protects the sensitive information lying on your servers along with the online activity. The information is encrypted and can be deciphered by only the desired recipient. The communication with visitors is carried out through a 256-bit encryption mechanism and cannot be read by any undesired third party.

They can be helpful to protect small business data. It is essential for businesses that deal with sensitive login information, customer information or financial details. Moreover, some high-end products also come with added features like anti-malware software that can help to protect your data.

Conclusion

Businesses are constantly faced with the risk of a cyberattack, and they must take adequate steps to prevent such an attack. The data breach incidents come with substantial associated costs as well. Small businesses can find it difficult to sustain if they face such an incident.

Adequate steps must be taken to thwart any threat of a data breach. An SSL certificate can help and is one of the many steps that must be taken to protect small businesses. You can choose the type of certificate based on the amount of data you store.

Jason Parms is the customer service manager at SSL2BUY Inc. His key responsibility is maintaining customer happiness by providing help desk resources and technical guidance, resolution for customer troubles, detecting and diagnosing network problems and managing staff. As a part of the online security industry, He is always updating knowledge by contributing to cybersecurity events, reading information security publications, maintaining personal networks, examine information and applications, participate in security surveys.