Tony’s Tech Tip - How do you know if a website is secure?

Posted by Guest Blogger on February 21, 2018

These days, more people are using the internet for shopping, banking and paying their bills. With all the identity theft occurring lately, how do you know your information will be safe when you enter it on the internet? Before entering any personal or private information on a website, look at the URL to make sure it is secure.

The URL is in the address bar of your internet browser, which includes the domain name along with other detailed information to create a complete address – or “web address” – to direct your browser to a specific web page. Each page has its own unique URL.

To tell if the site is secure, check whether the address starts with https://. The ‘s’ is very important, because it signifies that the website is secured using an Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. This certificate encrypts the data to ensure it is secure when passed between your computer and the website’s server.

The URL address will also show a lock icon to the left of the address. You can verify that a website is secure by clicking the lock icon. Then a pop-up will appear displaying the security certificate information and other security details.

Web pages that only contain information do not need to be secure. However, those including forms that ask for personal information should be secure. For example, if you click on the Pay or View Bill icon on WH’s website in the upper right corner, it will redirect you to https://billing.whe.org, which has the lock icon and ‘s’ in the address line. These elements can help you be confident your information is encrypted and secured when paying your bill online with us.