In 2017, hackers launched a series of cyber-attacks that targeted different sectors. A stolen software developed by the national security agency was used to penetrate computer systems around the world. 

Surprisingly, one of the most affected areas was the healthcare sector. A significant amount of patients' data was lost and distorted.

It became clear that hackers have started targeting the health industry ever since the health sector has been a lucrative ground for hackers where they lay their traps to commit data breaches.

The reason medical websites are targeted is because of the competitiveness of the health industry. Fraud and theft of information are now everyday things in the pharmaceutical industry. Hackers and insiders want those medical records for their malicious benefits. The need to protect medical websites has now risen manifold.

Medical website owners are currently looking for some of the most reliable security measures that maintain security to create professional websites. They fear the impact of medical website hacks that have been occurring in the recent past.

According to IBM Security's 2020 data breach cost report, the cost of data breaches to medical websites will hit $6.45 Million. This is a huge amount that they do not wish to be part of. SSL certificates are one of the security tools that have been key to protecting websites' data.

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Source: gretathemes

Apart from just offering the required encryption to protect the communication between the servers and the browsers, an SSL certificate also has other benefits. This article has touched on five reasons why you need to protect website data with an SSL certificate.

5 Reasons why you need to Secure your Medical Website with an SSL Certificate

Let's get started…

1. To comply with HITECH and HIPAA rules and regulations

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 requires that you comply with its regulations when dealing with electronically protected health information. One of the rules set up by HIPAA is the privacy rule.

It is the central pillar of the HIPAA Act. The privacy rule requires protection in place to ensure that all patients' health information is safe and secure and that its privacy is upheld to the latter.

Another cornerstone rule of the HIPAA Act is the security rule. This rule covers the privacy rule. Implementing robust security measures, like utilizing a service such as Surfshark VPN, is crucial for preventing data breaches and maintaining privacy.

To ensure that these rules are adhered to, you will need to install an SSL certificate on your website. SSL encryption is also part of the HIPAA rules.

Similarly, the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act also calls for an SSL certificate. SSL security is an essential feature for all healthcare websites that ensures that the regulations are followed.

Every medical website owner must ensure that the website has an HTTPS. Choosing the right SSL certificate should also be a key consideration for the SSL website security of a medical website.

It is recommended to have an EV SSL certificate, which offers the required encryption level relevant to medical websites along with the highest validation.

2. To boost your rankings on search engine results pages

Google is very much concerned about the privacy of its users. The privacy of the users and all users' safety is one of the topmost priorities of Google.

To ensure that this is achieved, Google had to ensure that all websites have the required security tools.

In 2014, Google announced that the HTTPS feature is one of the key ranking factors. Websites with HTTPS have always ranked higher on search engine results pages than websites without an SSL certificate.

In 2015, Google announced that the SSL feature would be used as a tie-breaker where two websites equalled in rank after considering all the other factors.

This meant that in a situation where two sites equalled in rank after weighing all the other ranking factors, that website with HTTPS would rank higher than that website with the HTTP feature.

You sure want your medical website to be on the first page of the search engine results pages. To ensure this is achieved, you must install an SSL certificate on the website. Doing this will improve your rank on the results pages and secure your site.

3. Ensure secure payments

If you wish to receive and make payments online, you should consider acquiring an SSL security. To ensure an online transaction's safety, you will require a merchant account that requires the SSL certificate to operate effectively.

The SSL certificate will protect the debit card details and credit card details and go a long way to ensure that online transactions are safe.

4. To increase conversion rates for your medical website

If you want to increase your client base on your medical website, then have security on the website.

Once you have security, it will attract more visitors and retain many of them. So, stop waiting for miracles to happen; get an SSL certificate and see your loyal customers grow.

5. To build trust and confidence in your clients

The internet is a very insecure place. That is one fact that you should face. Your website visitors know this, and that is why they will be more cautious when dealing with your website.

They will need to trust you to be confident when they share the information with you. Moreover, it ensures that all the communication between you and them is safe and cannot be easily intercepted by hackers.

One of the critical things that visitors will be looking at is if your website has an HTTPS. To establish this, they will look at the URL of your website. If it starts with HTTP, then this is an indicator that your website is not secure.

If, on the other hand, the URL begins with HTTPS, then it will mean that the medical website is secure, and the patient can go ahead to transact with you.

The modern website user has become clever and will not trust you blindly until he becomes sure that your website is safe. The SSL certificate feature has increased users' trust by availing a mechanism that validates your medical website's legitimacy and reliability.

By installing an SSL certificate on your website, your clients will openly share their information without fear.

Conclusion

Cyber attackers are now targeting healthcare websites. Medical website owners need to wake up and put proper measures like VPNWelt Proxy that can help stem the now rampant vice of cyber breaches.

Security tools that can be essential in stopping cyber medical breaches ought to be put in place. One of the perfect tools that have been of great essence in medical websites' security is the SSL certificate. Onec can easily safeguard your online presence with enhanced website security using Proxys.io to protect against potential threats.

Apart from just offering the required encryption level, SSL security has gone a long way to play other vital roles and provide myriad benefits to medical websites.

Hopefully, this article has explained the five benefits that a medical website can have from installing an SSL certificate.

Still, if you have any suggestions or queries, please comment in the section below. Moreover, you can also contact us for appealing website development at an affordable cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Secure Sockets Layer is one of the security protocols that encrypts data transmitted between a user's browser and a website's server. It ensures that the data remains confidential and secure, protecting sensitive information like passwords, credit card details, and personal data from unauthorized access or interception by malicious parties.

SSL protects a website by encrypting the data transferred between a user's browser and the website's server. This encryption ensures that sensitive information remains confidential and secure, making it difficult for malicious parties to intercept or access the data being exchanged.

To make your website SSL secure:

  • Purchase an SSL certificate from a trusted brand.
  • Install the SSL certificate on your website server.
  • Configure your server to use HTTPS.
  • Update all internal links and resources to use HTTPS.
  • Test and verify SSL implementation for security.

An SSL-secured site (using HTTPS) is generally considered safer for transmitting sensitive information because it encrypts data during transmission, making it harder for malicious actors to intercept. However, the safety of a site also depends on other security measures and practices in place.