WP Engine, a company specializing in web hosting for websites and applications built on the WordPress platform, has made Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS certificates freely available to all customers. This means for every single one of the company’s 50,000 customers setting up a secure site would be simple, automated, and completely free.
A 2016 Google report revealed an alarmingly large number of the web’s most-trafficked sites fail to use this crucial security protocol. In the Google audit, 79 of the web’s top 100 non-Google sites do not deploy HTTPS by default, while 67 of those use either outdated encryption technology or offer none at all.
Let’s Encrypt is an open certificate authority whose purpose is to make HTTPS ubiquitous on the Internet through free SSL/TLS certificates. These certificates are recognized by all modern browsers and use a high level of cryptographic technology to secure connections. Now, every page of a website hosted on WP Engine can, at the click of a button, offer encrypted HTTPS connections to that site’s visitors.
It means that a visitor’s information remains confidential from prying eyes, data can’t be modified without the person’s knowledge and there’s a way of authenticating that the site being visited is the intended one. In this way HTTPS would provide important benefits like confidentiality, integrity and identity.
According to WP Engine, HTTPS has benefits for website owners too, who can expect improved site performance and better search ranking on popular search engines such as Google.
WordPress Security
“The Internet today isn’t the same as it was even 5 years ago,” said Jason Cohen, founder and CTO of WP Engine. “There’s an expectation that people should be able to go securely online without worrying if their information will be exploited or fall into the wrong hands. HTTPS is a win for everyone. On the one hand it provides greater trust, privacy and security for site visitors and on the other it delivers faster site speeds with better SEO for website owners.”
HTTPS is available for all new WP Engine customers while existing customers can enable HTTPS with just a few clicks in the WP Engine User Portal. Free HTTPS would help secure WP Engine websites and is just one of the initiatives that help drive security at WP Engine – from proactive vulnerability scans, disaster recovery, security patching, site audits and code review, and the multiple security layers built into their platform.
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is headquartered in Austin, Texas and has offices in Limerick, Ireland; London, England; San Antonio, Texas; and San Francisco, California.
