The year is 2019. Three years from now the Internet will connect 31 billion devices. These devices will consist not just personal computers, laptops or mobile devices, but, also a milieu of newgen devices like fitness trackers, connected cars, smart homes, industry 4.0 components and much more. Together, they will form a chain of devices connected by a single link, that is the Internet.

Imagine the horrendous effect if a weak device in this link is breached? What will follow is a Dominoes effect of security breaches that can bring personal lives and business operations to a screeching halt. This is a scenario that industry experts Virtual Armour, and many others predict and therefore warn us to safeguard our business and private life.

The woes weigh higher for enterprise as they form the primary target for hackers. After all business houses will have more to steal from than individuals.

Studies by Verizon and other cybersecurity bodies also agree the same. Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 76% of breaches were financially motivated. That is after considering 53,308 security incidents, 2,216 data breaches across 65 countries and 67 contributors.

Long story short, enterprises need to raise their cyber security defenses. If Internet is used in any form within the business, the need for security is higher than ever before in history. The fundamental way to do it is by fortifying websites with an Cheap SSL certificate. The benefit of using a SSL certificate is that it secures your website as well as gives several other benefits.

Here are four reasons why it could be the best decision for years to come.

Organizational data protection is supreme

Financial records. Customer information. Competitive bids. Employee payroll. The list of organizational data that should remain confidential is a lengthy one. Old-school anti-virus software, firewall programs, password protection, etc. may not withstand the growing power of cybersecurity attacks.

There is a pressing need for a highly portable, scalable and universally usable security mechanism. Moreover in the age of cloud computing and web-based applications, enterprises need an equally potent security mechanism that can be deployed anywhere, anytime without any hiccups. An SSL certificate ticks all these checkboxes easily.

It comes with the power of encryption which prevents any form of eavesdropping or data interception. An SSL certificate ensures that the data exchanged between two users are encrypted preventing data from being stolen as it is by hackers. On the ease of use end, SSL certificate does not require any installation at the user end. An one time configuration in the website backend is all it takes to put the security mechanism in effect for anyone who accesses the website.

Users wants trustworthiness

The customers of nineteenth century shopped weighing the shelf presence of a product. The customers of twenty-first century rely on online trust worthiness of a store before making a buy.

Ecommerce has ushered a new way of buying and selling goods. However, as much as their convenience online transactions are riddled with security threats as well. It is easy for hackers to dupe users with fake shopping websites, mobile apps, redirects to malicious links, and much more.

To add to everyone’s woes, hackers are becoming adept at building fake websites that look and work identical to popular online shopping websites. Even banking and financial service websites are not spared from this security threat.

An SSL certificate can squash all these challenges. It can establish the authenticity of a website with trust seals and symbols that cannot be replicated. Trust seals or symbols are basically icons or logos issues the certificate issuing authority. They are easily recognized by most customers thus elevating the level of assurance in online shopping.

Regulations make it mandatory

Online services that lure users into unconsciously submitting personal data in exchange for ‘free’ services kicked off the need for data protection and regulations. The archaic GDPR was also revised with hefty fines for businesses that were found to be violating the regulation.

The new GDPR lays down that businesses should take adequate safety measures to protect user data submitted to them. Failure to do so can lead to fines amounting to 4% of annual income or 20 Million.

An SSL certificate can help eliminate such mishaps and also helps in securing the website. In a worst case scenario of any data being stolen, the warranty amount provided by the certificate issuing authority can make good the loss.

Search engines label insecure websites

Search engines, especially Google. In particular has a practice of labeling websites as ‘secure’ or ‘not secure’ depending on whether they have a SSL certificate or not. The groundwork for this labeling started some two years ago when Google decided to point fingers at websites with un-encrypted connections which were insecure for users to deal with. The labeling become more strong with the launch of Chrome 68.

Such labeling can have a positive or negative effect on the website performance. The ‘not secure’ label can bring down website activity like sign ups, purchase transactions, and so on. The other negative side of this labeling is that it can have a trickle down on the long-term traffic volume and domain authority of the website. Having an SSL certificate will label the website as secure and keep it in the good records of search engines.

Don’t lose your data

This is the only word of advice I have for enterprises. Whether you are a dozen people strong or a present across dozen countries, your business needs to secure itself. Hackers are coming behind data with all their might. Organizational data holds great value as it can held ransom for quick payouts. Moreover, there is also reputation that is at stake. No business can take the gamble of leaving their doors to data wide open for unauthorized users to walk in.

An SSL certificate can ensure that your website, the primary source of traffic and business remains secured from all imaginable calamities. It also brings with it several other benefits like better search engine ranking, more conversions and so on. All said, the money that you spend on an SSL certificate is well-spent and is miniscule compared to the large sums of money that would be otherwise required for repairing reputation damage or getting the data back.