Over the weekend – yes we had nothing better to do – we switched 99% of Our Locality sites over to the secure encryption protocol (TLS/SSL), so now when you visit one of our sites or login you should see https:// in the browser bar and depending on your browser, a wee padlock sign before the web address.
TLS certificates cost money and require technical know-how to install. But since we’re using Let’s Encrypt, who is making all certificates free thanks to corporate and nonprofit donations, the extra security costs you nada.
Thanks to Let’s Encrypt, web hosting services like Ourlocality can ensure that most hackers can’t see your weak passwords. It won’t stop MI6 or the NSA or other state actors from having a go, but we’re guessing that’s not a major concern. You’ll probably be more worried that your website ranking now won’t be affected by weak security (a Google Search criterion), or that your boss can still look over your shoulder and see that you’re on facebook once again.
If your site is not showing the padlock, green or otherwise, ping us an email and we’ll take a look.
To ensure a reasonably smooth transition we’ve enabled SSL on a site by site basis, so could have missed one or 2 out. We are aware of at least 2 clients who have not been transitioned, and we’ll be looking into their specific problem in the days ahead.
If you own a domain, or want to add one, in order for SSL to work for you we need to setup the certificates for you. Get in touch when you’re ready.
Padlock credit: HuBoro | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambox_padlock_green.svg
