Education dept website security ‘vital to build trust’
'Anyone can hack the website and take the content off the website,' warns a developer.
JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA – APRIL 29: MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi. (Photo by Gallo Images / Beeld / Simone Kley)
Despite the department of education insisting that it did not need the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) also known as HTTPS to secure its website, web design developer Sam Owolabi said the feature was very important even for a four-page website – and even more so for a government website.
He said it was important to secure the website and that as it was now “anyone can hack the website and take the content off the website”.
“Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates are used to secure data transfers, logins and other personal information,” he said.
“They do not only provide security to end-users or visitors to stay on a website for longer periods of time, it builds digital trust and shows you care about your visitors’ data safety.
“With new forms of incredibly sophisticated cybercrimes, online security became more crucial than ever. One of them is certainly the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into effect on May 25, 2018.”
He said the GDPR brought uncompromising transparency regarding collecting and sharing personal data, redefined the rules of collecting data and gave users back the rightful control of their personal data.
“In 2014, Google launched ‘HTTPS Everywhere’ in an attempt to make the online world a safer place.”
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