The
SSL Certificate and Your Website’s Security
When you are surfing the internet, a
lot of information is being exchanged between the web host and the device being
used to surf the internet. This type of information can always be easily
breached by hacker, especially if it involves online transactions and this has
always been a major issue when dealing with the internet. Nowadays, cases of
online theft are becoming increasingly popular. There is one way of determining
whether a site is safe to use through an SSL
Certificate which is powered by the beauty of cryptography.
How
SSL Cryptography Works?
Cryptography ensures that data is
transmitted in a means that only the intended party can access it. You can
easily determine a site which has an SSL certificate by the padlock icon that
is displayed beside the web address. So how do SSL certificates work? SSL in
full is Secure Sockets Layer. An SSL certificate provides tight security during
the exchange of data.
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Icon Showing SSL Security
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In SSL cryptography, encryption
makes use of separate keys for the decryption and encryption of data.
Encryption keys are public and anyone can use them. But the decryption keys
(ones used to turn encrypted data into meaningful information) are private and
are kept secret. The SSL certificate, on the other hand, can simply be
described as a tiny data file that has the appropriate information about a
certain website. The information can be quickly read by the host connection
once the request for connection is received. It is through an SSL that a
website can prove its authenticity to a web browser.
How To Get SSL Certificate?
An SSL certificate is not handed out
like a college certificate. There are a number of companies called Certificate Authorities (CA)that authenticate
that a site/server is legitimate and sign a resultant digital certificate which
is then stored, just like a cookie is stored on your browser. The certificate
will continuously alert all incoming connections and protocols that the
connection is trustworthy.
SSL
Certificate Advantages
SSL certificates make online
data-exchange, especially financial transactions, safer. It is a common rule of
thumb not to trust any e-commerce site that does not have an SSL certificate.
There is just too much information floating around online nowadays such as
credit card info, banking information etc. The safety of all these vital
information will be ensured by the SSL certificate, and every browser will
accept the websites incoming connections. However, most small websites, such as
blogs, don’t really need to supply an SSL certificate.