SSL Certificate for your website

One of the products we offer here at West Bay Media Group is an SSL certificate. A secure sockets layer certificate is now a must for any small business owner that has a website on the internet. There is confusion by business owners regarding an SSL certificate for their Business website. In this article I hope to explain exactly what an SSL certificate is and how it works.

SSL Certificates

The web is able to work by means of the Hypertext Mark Up Language. HTML, the brainchild of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee developed this language and demonstrated how he could manipulate a web page and have it work on a local computer. HTML, as we know it now, is STILL the backbone of the internet, and even today we code in HTML when we want to make sophisticated changes to a website. From the creation of this language, Mr. Berners-Lee’s goal was to connect computers together to share this information, and this ended up being the birth of hypertext transfer protocol or HTTP.  HTTP allows computers to share information with each other using HTML as the language and HTTP as the “conduit” for the connection. 

Secure Sockets Layer Certificate

You probably remember noticing the first websites starting off with http://www. in front of a domain name. As with all technology, there have been vast changes to the internet since 1990 when Berners-Lee published the first website. For example, e-commerce websites were pretty scarce in the early days. People were afraid to put their credit card numbers online. Now, in 2020, everyday people are using apps on their smartphones to order products with overnight delivery to their homes. Because of these technological changes, there have been more opportunities for hackers to attack and infiltrate websites. The need for security is no longer an afterthought for websites but now plays an extremely important role in the daily management of the small business owner’s website.

Website Security

A new protocol named HTTPS or hypertext transfer protocol SECURE, ensures that the data being transmitted from the website to the end user (client) is secure. You will notice when a website has an SSL certificate as the browser will show that it is secure. The confusion for the owner is thinking it is THEIR WEBSITE that is secure, which is NOT the case at all!  It is the CONNECTION that is secure. The data is encrypted during transmission to prevent hacking or intrusion.

Website Security

We offer website security as well as SSL certificate installation to your website. Both website security and SSL website certificates are required when a new company decides to work with West Bay Media Group, reason being that Google, the #1 search engine on the planet, de-ranks websites without HTTPS. Google’s revenue is based on advertising dollars, and, therefore, they DO NOT want to serve up queries for websites without a secure certificate, which is why we require one for EVERY new client.

We work with Strategic Partners that desire to grow their business online; hence, staying on top of the tech trends is OUR job so YOU can focus on sales and marketing. We use trusted companies, and we know how to CORRECTLY configure the certificate to work with a WordPress website.

Now that I have explained the difference between browser security and website security, you can feel confident knowing that your business website is secure with the data transmission from your website to the customer. We can install the certificate and give you and your customers the peace of mind knowing their online asset is protected. West Bay Media Group provides ongoing support for all of our strategic partners so that if an issue does arise with the certificate we are able to resolve it.  Please contact us anytime to find out more!

 

WordPress Website Security – Blacklisting

I wanted to share with you a recent real life situation with one of our strategic website partners. When we decide to partner up with a new business by designing, developing, and deploying a WordPress website, one of the ongoing monthly services we provide is website security.

As professional web developers, our job is to give our clients the best possible guidance – ALL THE TIME. Website security should be a no brainer. Nonetheless, it is up to us to educate the small business owner so THEY can make an informed decision about what direction they want to take with their business. Our job is to put them in the position to win on the web. A winning strategy on the web MUST include a plan for website protection.

Recently, I received a notification from one of my partner’s website. The notification was suggesting there was Malware on the site. Upon further investigation it was discovered that the website DID NOT have malware.

Malware is when a hacker injects malicious code into your website. Then that code, if undetected, can adversely affect anyone who visits your site.

Instead of Malware, the notification was that the website was “Blacklisted”.

Read More HERE about what do if your website is Blacklisted.

So this was good news/bad news. The good     news was that there was no malware which   meant our security protocols we working   correctly. The “bad“ news was the blacklisting of   the domain name. Sometimes when these   scans occur, there can be a false-positive read. I was confident that site would be removed from the “blacklisting” status since we develop in WordPress with excellent website architecture, (read Google Crawl), provide valuable content, and have security and back up in place.

I followed their request for an email from the website administrator (West Bay Media Group) and fulfilled any requests they required. Once this was done correctly, the site was removed off the list immediately.

Blacklisting is a service provided by Google and other entities to “clean up“ the web and provide a valuable end user experience. These type of technical adjustments can be challenging for the average website/business owner. That is why West Bay Media Group exists. We are here to help the small business owner do what they do best – run their business. If you have any questions, or would like us to take a look at your website, contact us anytime.

Thank you for reading and best of luck on running a successful website!

Tom Hamilton

CEO/Founder
West Bay Media Group

WordPress Wednesday – West Bay Media Group


One of the services we offer is Website Security. That is why having a strategic partner manage your website is so critical. Please read the article below about the types of attacks that happen daily to websites. 

Popular ThemeREX WordPress Plugin
Opens Websites to RCE (Remote Code Attack)

CLICK HERE 

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