SSL certificates are primarily used to prevent a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack. As such, many IT administrators would ague that SSL certificate is only required for sites where a user actively communicates with a backend server. But does that mean if you have an informational site or personal blog there is no need for SSL? While the attack surface is definitely reduced, you should still get an SSL, at least it is free.
Below are reasons why your front-end only site needs an SSL:
- There are technical findings that suggest Google ranks sites with SSL higher than those that do not have SSL. So to improve your SEO score, get an SSL
- When a site is displayed as "not secure", it affects user experience, so if you need your visitors to visit your page more often and spend longer time on it, get an SSL
- Intruders both malignant and benign exploit every unprotected resource (might not even be useful information) between websites and users, SSL ensures encrypted data will be all they see!.
- Many intruders look at aggregate behaviors to identify users.
- HTTPS doesn't just block misuse of your website. It's also a requirement for many cutting-edge features and an enabling technology for app-like capabilities such as service workers. It is also a requirement for some security standards.
You can get a free SSL certificate from any of the following platforms below:
- LetsEncrypt
- CloudFlare