There are 2 parts of WhosOn in relation to security:
1. The Visitor Facing Live Chat Client
This is the live chat application that visitors use to chat to operators within
your organization. Visitors launch this web application by selecting the 'click
to chat' link on your site or by responding to an invite request sent by an operator.
The WhosOn Live Chat application runs within a web browser using standard HTML and
Javascript. It communicates back to the WhosOn server (via IIS) using the standard HTTP protocol
via port 80. The live chat application is secured using SSL (secure sockets layer).
This is the standard security layer used by all secure web pages. This means that
live chat sessions in WhosOn are completely secure for the visitor - and are just
as secure as any checkout page.
Visitors can see that the chat is secure
with the padlock icon shown in their web
browser:
One added benefit of the WhosOn Installable Edition is that you can use your own
SSL certificate. This means the certificate will show your own organization details
instead of ours. This gives the visitor added confidence. The Hosted edition of
WhosOn uses secure chat by default - but the SSL certificate will show 'Parker Software'.
2. The Operator Client
Operators within your organization run the WhosOn Client to watch live stats and
take chat requests. The WhosOn Client itself in most cases is not Internet facing
(since it runs behind your firewall) - however it still uses 256bit AES encryption
for all communications with the WhosOn Server so it's safe to use anywhere.
AES encryption is the
standard encryption used by the US Government. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
Operators must login to WhosOn using a username & password and must specify
the correct authentication string in their settings. The authentication string is
a server-wide setting that clients use to authenticate against the WhosOn server
when they connect. The user names/passwords can be confiugured for each user and
are sent encrypted by the client when the user logs in.
In summary, WhosOn is completely secure, both for the visitor and for the operator. At no point is any clear text sent over the Internet.
Additional Security
For users that want additional levels of security - we can provide a decicated WhosOn Server. This will be located in our secure data center. We can configure the firewall
so that only operators on your internal subnet can connect to the WhosOn Server.
Your own SSL certificate can be used on the visitor chat. This would be a completely
secure, self contained solution running separate from your website. Please contact
us for details.