Protocols in local language aims to build trust among region's web users
Dubai: In 1994, Netscape launched its new creation Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to stem looming security threats to computers on the internet.
For the last 16 years, updated versions of the SSL protocol under various brand names have electronically authenticated data to ensure web and email communication is not compromised.
While Arab-world businesses have relied on the English version of the SSL protocol, a majority of Arabic websites and internet users have not used SSL to guard against electronic intrusion, said Khalid Fattal, Chairman and CEO of the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium.
Until now
Fattal says his company has produced the very first Arabic SSL to help localise internet protection in Arab countries where new high-level domain names in non-Latin script are being introduced.
With Arabic SSLs, each website is registered with the domain name registry governed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), he said.
The UAE, for example, has newly adopted .emarat in Arabic to allow non-English speaking internet users to log on to the web in their own Arabic language.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia have also received Icann approval of multilingual domains by the not-for-profit body that governs the assignment of top-level domains such as .com, .net, .org and .mobi.
Accordingly, Fattal is expecting great things from Arabic SSL, a new series of protocols his firm calls the "first ever localised Arabic SSL certification for websites in the Arabic region, as well as many communities around the world that use the Arabic script."
Fattal said that "all SSLs so far are in English or are part of the English internet. Many Arab websites don't have certificates."
In an age that is encouraging more Arabic language on the internet, it makes sense to use Arabic SSL, he said.
Simple Arab websites that are not engaged in e-commerce can equip their site with a basic version of the Arabic SSL to certify to electronic visitors that the websites are, indeed, who they say they are.
"If you want your clients to visit your website, you can tell them their information is safe," he said.
The SSL protocol in Arabic will also help guarantee privacy and confidentiality for e-commerce websites looking to build upon a newly emerging Gulf market worth billions, he said.
Encrypted
E-commerce websites have long protected sensitive credit card details used to purchase items by employing SSL encrypted communications.
The SSL protocol uses "two keys to encrypt data — a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message," according to www.webopedia.com,
"Websites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information such as credit card numbers," webopedia said.
Fattal said Arab e-commerce sites will gain even more confidence from Arabic online shoppers when they apply the new ArabicSSL.
"That first layer of security enables us to be the first to provide e-commerce solutions for the market shortly," Fattal said.
The new Arabic SSL could also become the standard for a raft of new Arabic-only websites where consumers feel confident enough to share confidential credit card details to purchase goods over the internet, he said.
"We need a Pan-Arab solution that is recognised by the public to recognise the service," he said. "The key word is trust, the second is delivery. We will have more as we go forward."
For now, Arabic SSL is being directed toward the Arab business community.
"Our agenda is to first educate the business community," he said.
Fattal said one of the big challenges is to convince internet visitors to use their credit cards on smaller locally based Arab websites that do not have the well-established international brand recognition.
For now, consumers "are not going to the local shawarma website and using their credit card."
As Arabic SSL catches on and trust in the Arab world builds around the SSL protocol's name, local websites will benefit greatly from local consumer confidence, he said.
"The message is that we're taking information and security to the masses," Fattal said.
The price for securing websites using the new ArabicSSL protocol will not cripple businesses or website owners, pledged Fattal.
Costs for any of the seven versions of the new protocol vary from $16 for the email Arabic SSL to as high as $200 for Mowathan SGC, a 128/256 bit SSL "designed for securing leading websites" that uses server-gated cryptography.
The good news for internet users and hosts is that Arabic SSL was custom designed to be user friendly no matter which browser is in use. "We are recognised by 99.9 per cent of world browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari to name a few.
Arab users on internet growing
Recent global figures show that Arabic language on the web is growing at a rate faster than that of any of the world's 6,909 languages.
According to World Internet Statistics, figures show that from 2000-2009, Arabic language on the web grew 2,297 per cent in the last decade. Of the world's total 1.8 billion web users, 60.2 million (3.3 per cent) are Arabic speaking. Mushrooming Arabic internet language can be attributed in part to ambitious policies such as those advocated by the UAE which leads the Middle East region with 74.1 per cent internet penetration.
As many as 3.5 million UAE residents are online. Since 2000, the UAE has witnessed a 384 per cent growth during a financial and social renaissance that has propelled the Emirates onto the world stage.
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