Page 22 - Dallas Vol 6 No 2

Enhance Your Law Firm Website with
HTTPS for Security BY KATHLEEN M. DUGAN
Does your law rm’s website address start with http://or https://? e s in a web address means that it is a secure site. Stated other- wise, Internet searchers who review a law rm website that starts
with https can be assured that it is the genuine location of a rm’s online presence and not a fake or spoofed site that is attempting to imitate a rm’s web page, likely for nefarious purposes. As explained further be- low, there are several very important reasons to make your rm’s web- site secure, and the conversion process is not too complicated.
e acronym http stands for hypertext transfer protocol. In simple terms, these are the standards or procedures which govern Internet communications between computer servers and Internet browsers. e addition of an s in https signals and guarantees that communications between a browser and a website are encrypted. Everyday examples you may encounter that employ https include online banking portals and many e-commerce websites.
REASONS TO MIGRATE WEBSITE TO HTTPS
The rst is increased security. Although you should still in- stall other website security tools such as anti-virus so ware or rewalls, using https makes it much more di cult for hackers to decrypt Internet communications between users and your website.
The second reason is enhanced brand perception. If you were not already aware, search engines such as Google are start- ing to mark http-only website URLs as “not secure” in the Chrome browser. Inasmuch as Chrome enjoys a market share of at least 56% among Internet browsers, according to, “Browser wars 2018: Micro- so Edge falls behind ... Internet Explorer,” it is likely that your clients and potential clients will use Chrome to nd and search your law rm’s
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 2 22