When you are building a website, web hosting is probably the first big decision you have to make. Web hosting gives you a place on a server on which your website can run. Without it, there is no way to get your website out to the world. However, good web hosting does not just provide online real estate. It also ensures that your website is secure for both you and your visitors.
You might be wondering whether web hosting really needs security. After all, it serves as a kind of online plot of land. If your home has a strong security system, you do not necessarily need a fence around the property. While this comparison does have merit, hosting does need to be secured for a number of reasons.
The first reason is that any hackers who breach your hosting will have access to a lot of your personal information, even if they cannot get into the more secure parts of your website. The second reason is that your website is going to be dealing with sensitive visitor data, and you cannot afford to take risks with this.
So, how do you secure your web hosting?
SSL is the solution
SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layer, is software that creates encryption between the web host and the client. SSL hosting therefore secures your website by making it almost impossible to decode any data gathered or shared. A hosting breach will not cause much harm, as any user information gathered will be impossible to understand.
Encryption uses randomized code to make data impenetrable. Different types of SSL hosting provide different levels of security. If it seems strange that some randomization is stronger than others, it is because true randomness is almost impossible to program, as computers can only do what people tell them to. Therefore, the closer software gets to achieving actual randomness, the more secure it is going to be.
When looking for SSL hosting, take notice of the levels of security promised. This does indeed make a difference, and when you are dealing with particularly sensitive data it may be worthwhile to spend more to secure it.
What if I don’t deal with sensitive data?
If your website is not going to be gathering any data from visitors, or will only be collecting email addresses for a mailing list, you might think SSL hosting is overkill. At best any hackers will steal website-related information on your side, and you might be willing to take that risk. However, this is not a realistic option these days.
Whether or not you value it, the mass of data collected just from website visits impacts your visitors’ privacy. They may care a lot more than you do. But more relevant is the fact that most web browsers will not allow users to visit unsecured websites without express permission. They will display warning pages first, making it difficult to even find the option to click through anyway.
This will also impact your SEO score, and your website will not benefit from Google searches.
Secure hosting is necessary no matter what kind of website you are building. SSL is the best web hosting security you can ask for, and should be a given for any website owner.