Take a step back and do a quick observation about your life on the internet. You will quickly notice that more than 70% of your life is actually stored digitally somewhere, whether it is your login info for an ecommerce site or the holiday photos you have backed up to the cloud. In today’s world, we convert more and more information into digital 1s and 0s.
As the amount of information we store digitally grows, the need for better information security grows with it. We now have multiple security measures in place to help protect sensitive personal information. SSL security prevents theft from sniffing data being transmitted to and from servers. Encryption and other technologies are safeguarding our files while they are being stored. We even have different PHP frameworks and modules designed to improve security of the apps and web services we develop.
Customers – including you and I – are more aware of the importance of information security, which means the web services developed for them must also be properly secured. There are a number of reasons why security is paramount when building a website, especially when you are developing a gaming website.
Gain Customers’ Trust
One of the first reasons why a gaming website – or any website you’re developing – needs to be properly secured is the customer trust issue. The only way to gain the trust of web users is by showing that you have taken the necessary security measures to protect their safety and the safety of their personal information.
Take SSL security as an example. Independent certificate authorities are selling SSL certificates based on their credibility as the issuer. Getting a certificate from a company such as Verisign will cost so much more, because Verisign is basically vouching for your website and the safety of your server. Customers can also see a padlock sign next to the address bar; that icon will reveal the necessary information about your company and your website when clicked, giving them an extra assurance.
Security is mainly about credibility. Customers will think twice about signing up for an account on the gaming website you are developing when the registration form is not properly secured. It’s their personal information that’s at stake.
That brings us neatly to the second reason why security is essentially important.
The Safety of Personal Information Matters
We value personal information more than ever today. A few years ago, sharing your home phone number may not have been a big deal. Today, however, that same phone number – combined with other personal details and the right set of skills – can be used by many shady parties for unwanted purposes.
For gaming websites, protecting the personal details of customers is even more critical. It is about ensuring their privacy and allowing them to have the best gaming experience without worrying about their details falling into the wrong hands.
We’ve seen cases of information theft happening on unsecured sites before. The Ashley Madison hacking case that happened in 2015 raised the importance of protecting customers’ personal information. Losing even one customer’s information to cyber thieves would be the end of your gaming site’s reputation as well.
Confidence in Doing Transactions
You will want to monetize your gaming website at some point. This either means exposing customers to advertisements or offering premium features that customers can purchase. For online bingo sites, for example players can purchase bingo cards and join online rooms to pursue real cash prizes. This is just one way; there are many others.
Before you can start accepting payments from customers, security should be your number one priority. The checkout page needs to be absolutely secured before you even begin adding payment processing to the equation. Processing payments and transmitting – and receiving – payment information are things that must be done with immense care for information security.
On top of that, you also need to let customers know that their transactions are processed securely. This goes beyond just securing the mechanics of the site. Displaying an and developing confidence in the heart of customers are the first steps to take. You also need to have a proper set of terms and conditions that protect the customers, along with a privacy policy to go along with them.
Protecting Your Business with Web Security
We’ve scratched the main reason why securing your website is important for a gaming website several times in this article already: it is as much about protecting your customers as it is about protecting your business. When customers are certain that the site is secured, they will not hesitate to play. You can then focus on providing players with the best gaming experience possible, along with rewards and prizes that will keep them interested.
The moment that confidence is shattered, however, it will be nearly impossible to regain their trust. The Ashley Madison hacking case we talked about earlier is a perfectly good example of how failure to protect customers’ safety (and the safety of their personal information) could have catastrophic impacts.
Of course, a gaming website needs to be fair and error-free. It needs to offer customers the best gaming experience; one that is accessible from any browser on virtually any device. There are even SEO benefits to be gained from applying the right security measures. All of these little details add up. The more secured your gaming website is, the more your customers will enjoy playing, the more confident they are in making transactions and the bigger your gaming website will grow.