The main difference between http and https is all about keeping you secure. HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

The ‘S’ in HTTPS

The S (big surprise) stands for “Secure.” If you visit a website or web page, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http:///.

This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular “unsecured” language. In other words, it is possible for someone to “eavesdrop” on your computer’s conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site.

This is why you never ever enter your credit card number  in an http website! But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your computer is talking to  the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on.

If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should automatically look to see if the web address begins with https://.

If it doesn’t, you should NEVER enter sensitive information…such as a credit card number or sensitive information.

2019 Update

Recently search engines, including Chrome and Firefox, rolled out a new policy on the internet relating to the use of https instead of http.  Any websites that don’t have an SSL certificate will be flagged as ‘Not Secure’.  We are now recommending that all sites use https so they are not faced with an error.

For a site to load with https, you will need to purchase an SSL certificate for the domain. If you would like assistance setting up an SSL please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.