DreamHost: Why Is HTTPS Off When Accessing Your WordPress Site?

I came across a blog post the other day that had an interesting question: “Why is the HTTPS off when accessing my WordPress site?” It got me thinking: what exactly does the HTTPS stand for and why is it important? More importantly, can you offer any alternatives if you are worried about security?

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. Way back in the day, people used to connect to websites by typing in the address — usually something like http://www.sitename.com — into their web browser. If you visited that website, you would see some text and maybe an image or two, depending on the template the site used. At some point, someone at the site probably decided that they wanted to keep visitors connected for longer so they added a little lock icon (known as an https://) to the address bar to indicate that the site is secured with encryption.

The point of the lock icon is to indicate to the visitor that the site is safe to interact with. When a website has an https:// in the address bar, it means that the site is securely encrypted — that is, any information that is sent to the site cannot be easily decrypted by anyone, including the site owner. The encryption process takes place seamlessly while browsing the site, so there’s no indication that the site is encumbering the user experience. In short, https:// is used to indicate that the site is either safe or suspicious — depending on who you ask — to visit.

What Is The Purpose Of The HTTPS?

The main purpose of the https:// is to protect the visitor’s personal information, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other sensitive data.

If an unauthorized party were to gain access to your website’s unencrypted database — which can happen if your website is hacked — they could see all of your visitors’ personal information. Not good. Luckily, https:// and encryption protect the security of your visitors’ personal information from being stolen by hackers.

That being said, the best way to ensure the privacy of your visitors is by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when accessing public WiFi. A VPN encrypts all of your internet traffic, giving you full control over your personal information. You can use a VPN to make your personal information completely undetectable when using public WiFI. This way, no one will be able to see your activities or monitor your traffic. You can use any VPN service to get started, but it’s important to keep in mind that some services are better than others when it comes to security and privacy. For example, I would recommend NordVPN to anyone looking for a simple way to encrypt their internet traffic.

Why Can’t I Just Use My Own VPN To Access My Website?

The main reason that you can’t use your own VPN to access your website is because the VPN service provider has a special connection to the internet that allows them to see what websites you are visiting. When you use their connection to access a website, they have the ability to see what pages you are viewing and store that information in their database. That being said, this information is encrypted, so it’s still safe — just not private.

The benefit of this is that the VPN service provider can help you protect your personal information from being stolen by hackers. So it’s a good thing that they are looking out for your privacy. Unfortunately, if you are not comfortable sharing your personal information with third parties, then you shouldn’t use their services anyway. It’s always best to find a VPN that you feel good about using and that offers a good privacy policy.

What About All The Ads That Will Show Up On My Website?

If you are worried about ads appearing on your website, you can always use the DontAllow ads on this site option (you need to activate it from your WordPress admin area). The only downside is that this will prevent the ads that appear on other sites from appearing on your site, too. So if you use AdSense or similar services, you might see a decrease in earnings.

There is also the option to use an adblocker with your WordPress installation. Most adblockers allow you to choose which sites you want to allow ads on and which you want to block. You could try out an adblocker that blocks all ads by default, but allows you to whitelist certain sites, like yours.

What About Malware, Spam, And Virus Infections?

Even if you use a VPN to encrypt your personal information while using public WiFI, you can still get infected by malware, spam, and viruses. The only difference is that these threats will be a lot more difficult to fall prey to. As you might expect, using a VPN doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get infected by malware or viruses. It just makes it a little bit more difficult.

To sum it up, the main purpose of the https:// is to protect the visitor’s personal information. If you are worried about the security of your own information while using public WiFI, then using a VPN is a great way to ensure that your personal information remains secure. Just make sure that you are using a reputable and trusted VPN service.