SSL
In order for trust to be cultivated on the internet, users need to be assured that the information they send to a website will not be intercepted and stolen. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) allow data to be transmitted from your personal computer to a server without the fear of stealing the data. SSL and TLS encrypt the data before it is sent in a way that only the receiving server can decode it. This process makes stealing the information in packets much more difficult. When a website has SSL, users can feel confident that they have some layer of protection against hackers.
However while SSLs do establish trust, there are many flaws with the system. SSL certificates are incredibly easy to obtain, and many certificates currently in use have actually expired. When a browser encounters a bad SSL certificate, it informs the viewer that the website may not be trustworthy. However, users are becoming immune to pop-ups and warnings, and they often continue anyway to the uncertified webpage. In order to make SSL more secure, better background checks should be required to obtain a SSL certificate. Also, each company that issues SSL certificates should regularly check and make sure that expired certificates are no longer usable. A better UI should be created to warn users about the dangers of entering an uncertified site so that users do not become immune to the threat.