HTTP vs HTTPS – Difference between HTTP and HTTPS
Here you will learn about difference between http and https.
Recently if you have noticed HTTPS instead of HTTP and wondered what is wrong? Well then let me tell you that there is nothing wrong! It is completely safe and secure.
Let’s face it until recently the HTTPS was only used by certain ecommerce websites for their payment pages. But now most of the websites are using it. Why?
What is HTTP?
Well, HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol, and it is a protocol which allows communication between different systems. And this is one of the most widely used protocol for data transfer over the web but the data exchanged over here is not as secure as we all would like it to be.
Let us know why?
The main issue with the HTTP is that the data here is not encrypted which is a threat and it can be easily encrypted by the third parties to collect the data being passed between the two systems.
Now what exactly is HTTPS?
The issue of the HTTP is easily overcome in the HTTPS version, where the letter S stands for Secure. As this simply includes the SSL certificate which stands for Secure Sockets Layer which helps to create a very secure encrypted between the two of them the web server and the web browser.
HTTP vs HTTPS – Difference between HTTP and HTTPS
| HTTP | HTTPS |
| HTTP website is not secure especially for ecommerce which involves payments. | HTTPS is become very crucial for the websites which holds sensitive data such as ecommerce websites that involve payments and other important details of the users.
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| HTTP data is not encrypted as such, so even the third party excluding the sender and the receiver can decode the data and easily understand it. | The benefit of the HTTPS is that if anyone even tries to open the message between the sender and the receiver won’t understand it as it will be encrypted. It could be decoded only by the receiver. And now this ensures complete safety.
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| The HTTP uses the default port of 80. | Another difference between the two is that HTTPS uses the default port of 443.
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| The HTTP is not encrypted and so it doesn’t require any processing time. | HTTPS it is encrypted however it requires a good amount of processing time as both the parties the web server and the web browser has to exchange the encryption keys using certificates before the actual data can be transferred ( this is to maintain complete security).
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One must also know that the cryptographic protocols such as SSL or the TLS turns the http into https, to get this security level in the https version Public Key Infrastructure PKI is used by many web browsers, however the web server of that website can also use a private key.
The distribution of the key is simply done via certificates which are maintained by the browser. One can even check these certificates in their browser settings.
And now the veterans believe that without HTTPS if any data is passed it is insecure, this is one of the main reasons that you will notice many website’s address changing from http to https. Which is really not a big deal and even beneficial for you.
So if you are thinking too! Then you should probably go ahead and try to make your website more secure, however even https has its own limitations, it is not like that you use https and it guarantees you that your website won’t be hacked ever.
HTTPS is more of a necessity than giving any premium service to your viewers or customers. And if you are an ecommerce website then please get this done as soon as possible as according to a survey been conducted the customers immediately cancel the purchase if the website is not https.
Not only the visitors but even Google pays complete attention to your website’s security. And the companies which are even listed under the https have an edge over advantage of getting better ranks.
However the adaption to https is slow and the main reason is that there is lack of awareness among the people. People assume it to be too complex and we go with the spirit of why fix it if there is no problem as such?
Well this attitude is not good for long run; we must understand how important security is in this dynamic world of technology.
HTTPS offers the bare minimum security one would require however the decision if you should shift to https or not is a decision which is more driven by the Google’s algorithm.
Comment below if you have queries related to difference between http and https.
