30-08-2013, 03:38 PM
What Is an SSL certificate and How Does it Work?
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Almost all sensitive transactions on the Internet — from online purchases, to electronic banking — are protected with Secure Sockets Layer — or SSL. That’s why companies like GoDaddy.com continually stress the importance of adding an SSL Certificate to any Web site that handles sensitive data.
SSL certificates, Go Daddy reminds you, are not just important for your business itself — they are crucial to how customers and clients view you. Basically, Go Daddy says, if you have an SSL Certificate installed on your site, customers will see the distinctive padlock icon and https: prefix in their browser as soon as they try to complete a sensitive transaction on your site. This brings the customer peace-of-mind as he/she will instantly know that their credit card numbers, contact information and other sensitive information is protected from prying eyes. According to Go Daddy, you simply cannot afford not to use SSL on your business Web site.
Now, hacking and other cybercrime are very serious issues, and Go Daddy is absolutely right when it emphasizes the importance of SSL. If you run an e-business — or if sensitive user information, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, passwords, etc, is ever used on the site — you MUST secure that information against prying eyes. Leaking such information — or allowing your site to be hacked — can be disastrous to your business.
But let’s take a quick look at what an SSL Certificate actualyl is, and how it works.
Here’s a quick lowdown.
An SSL certificate ensures safe Internet transactions by encrypting the data that moves between the shopper’s computer and the business’ Web site. Once an Internet user enters a secure area — by entering credit card information, email address, or other personal data, for example — the shopping site’s SSL certificate enables the browser and Web server to build a secure, encrypted connection. SSL certificates, including the ones sold by Go Daddy, enable high-grade 256-bit encryption, which is just about unbreakable — even with a brute-force attack.
Once installed, an SSL certificate serves as an electronic “passport” that establishes an online entity’s credentials when doing business on the Web. When an Internet user attempts to send confidential information to a Web server, the user’s browser accesses the server’s digital certificate and establishes the secure connection.
This SSL “handshake” process takes place discreetly behind the scenes. The padlock icon in the browser’s status bar and the “https://” prefix in the URL are the only visible indications of a secure session in progress. With Extended Validation SSL Certificates — which Go Daddy calls Premium SSL Certificates — the browser’s address bar also turns green when a secure connection is established.