For many, SSL certificates are synonymous with data encryption for the Internet. The technology — which secure Web sessions for users through the secure sockets layer protocol — is widely deployed by organizations that offer e-commerce and other services.
"When it comes to e-commerce, the arena is highly vulnerable, necessitating a high degree of security."
After all, when it comes to e-commerce in particular, the arena is highly vulnerable. These days, there are many examples of such platforms that have been compromised, putting customers at risk. Take LivingSocial, for instance. In April 2013, news stories broke about the Washington, D.C.-based online marketplace suffering a major breach of its database. The hack ended up compromising personal information for more than 50 million customers — at the time a majority of the site's patron base. Names, birth dates, emails and passwords were among the stolen data. While the LivingSocial breach represented a large-scale attack, the e-commerce company was hardly alone in having experienced such an intrusion. At the time the breach happened, the incident prompted a lot of conversations about the need for users to change their passwords and to select passwords that would prove challenging to breach. But the years since the 2013 LivingSocial breach have affirmed that passwords are becoming even easier to steal. These days, the onus really falls on e-commerce platforms to defend their sites with a high degree of encryption protocol. That's where EV SSL certificates come into play.
The basic principle of extended validation SSL certificates is that they provide an even higher degree of security than most normal SSL offerings. This makes them an ideal option for protecting enterprise websites, since these sites typically deal with highly privileged customer data. Here are three key benefits that accompany the deployment of EV SSL certificates:
- A boost in consumer confidence: From a store's perspective, ensuring the trust of its customers is one of the most important steps to establishing a great business model. These days, a large part of a company's reputation lies in its website; for patrons, feeling secure on that site is a key component of them trusting the business. Entrust's EV SSL certificates provide patrons with this sense of security by displaying clear trust indicators when customers are carrying out online business. As a visual cue, these trust indicators are becoming something customers look for when they do online shopping. Seeing them will increase their confidence in a store.
- Decrease in phishing scams: As an enterprise, the last thing you want is for cyberattackers to masquerade as your business in order to get personal data from unsuspecting customers. These days, phishing represents perhaps the single biggest threat to Web transactions. But if your company harnesses EV SSL, this will help provide customers with the ability to fairly easily distinguish between your site and that of an imposter. If the site seal isn't there in green next to the URL, then your customer will know that he or she is in the wrong place.
- Business future-proofing: With threats mounting, companies are being prompted to adopt more advanced security measures. In this way, EV SSL represents a step that will be widely deployed in order to meet the bigger risks that come with e-commerce today. For companies that implement EV SSL now, they'll be taking an important step toward future-proofing.
Entrust Datacard is an industry leader in EV SSL certificates. Our offerings can help your organization pave the road to a better and more secure online presence. This kind of security is something online patrons absolutely deserve — and increasingly, they're coming to expect it.
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