I’ve written about the importance of your funeral home having an SSL-secured website before. But, with October being Cybersecurity Awareness Month, now is the perfect time for a refresher.

Many small businesses think they don’t have to worry about cybersecurity. However, an alarming 65% of cyberattacks are aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, per Cybint Cyber Solutions. In 2017, 47% of small businesses reported at least one cyberattack, while 44% of those had two to four cyberattacks, according to the 2018 HISCOX Small Business Cyber Risk Report.

And, unfortunately, they’re happening more often, with news articles constantly coming out about the latest companies affected by cyberattacks. That’s why it’s crucial for your funeral home to have an SSL-secured website and take other cybersecurity measures, as well.

For a reminder, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. To put it simply, an SSL certificate encrypts the data sent between your web server and browser. This protects your client families’ information and has many additional benefits, which we’ll discuss below.

Protect Sensitive Information with an SSL-Secured Website

The main purpose of an SSL certificate is to protect your staff’s and client families’ personal information. For example, it protects credit card information, social security numbers, login credentials, and more.

Additionally, these are a few other steps you can take to help secure this sensitive information. First off, create secure passwords for your accounts. They shouldn’t be something that’s easily guessed and should include a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols.

You also should install a security software program on your funeral home’s computers and do the latest computer and browser updates. These updates may include the latest tools for protecting your computer from viruses and hackers.

Give Your Client Families Peace of Mind

With an SSL-secured website, you can give your families one less thing to worry about. They’re already stressed and emotional while grieving their loss. The last thing they should have to worry about is someone stealing their information.

By having a secure website, you can give them peace of mind when entering their personal information, such as credit card information. With online payments becoming more popular, this is extremely important. And by giving them peace of mind, you’re building the foundation for trusting relationships.

Help Your Funeral Home’s Website Be Found

In addition to protecting vital data, an SSL certificate also helps your funeral home website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines like Google prefer websites with SSL security, so it can boost your search engine results page ranking. This makes it easier for potential client families to find you.

And, if your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, Google will make it very obvious. Google Chrome will label it as “Secure” or “Not Secure” before the URL address. You also can tell if a website is secure by the URL address beginning, with https:// being secure and http:// not secure.

Even though HTTPS and HTTP are only one letter different, the letter “S” is the difference between a secure and non-secure connection. HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol, while HTTPS is hypertext transfer protocol secure. By having an SSL certificate, your website URL address begins with HTTPS rather than HTTP.

What Frazer Consultants Offers

Frazer-powered funeral home websites come with SSL certificates, since protecting your funeral home’s and client families’ information is our top priority. This way, your staff and families don’t have to worry about if your information is safe.

It’s a win-win situation for everyone — except the hackers. So, take action and get an SSL-secured website to protect your staff and families, so we don’t have to read about your funeral home being the next hacker target.