SSL Certificates

Have you ever noticed the prefix “https://” on the address bar when you browse a website?

You might not have given it much thought, but it’s an essential factor in maintaining a secure connection over the internet and protecting sensitive data sent and received between two computers (such as your PC and a web server).

Top Best SSL Certificate Providers UK

  1. Comodo SSL.
  2. DigiCert.
  3. Entrust Datacard.
  4. GeoTrust.
  5. GlobalSign.
  6. GoDaddy.
  7. Network Solutions.
  8. RapidSSL.

What is SSL Certificate?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), also known as Transport Layer Security (TLS), is a standard that establishes a secure, encrypted link between two nodes (your PC and the web server). It acts as the underlying support for “HTTP” and “HTTPS” that appear on the address bar of a webpage – indicating that the website is accessed through a secure and encrypted connection.

The SSL web protocol was developed by Netscape in the mid-90s to strengthen and boost web security. Later, TLS (Transport Layer Security) was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as an improvement for SSL. However, SSL is often used to refer to both SSL and TLS. When a padlock icon 🔒 is displayed at the beginning of a website URL on the address bar, it means the SSL certificate for the website has been successfully installed on the server. The SSL certificate secures our credit card/banking, login, and other credentials while transmitting over the internet. This is one of the main reasons that visitors tend to stay on a webpage and perform transactions. The sight of this padlock icon provides assurance that the information is being transmitted securely across the internet.

Most people would certainly abort a transaction on a shopping site that is not secure. Below is a screenshot of how a secure site is determined on the webpage.

Free SSL Certificates

  • If the website has a padlock icon 🔒 on it, it is regarded as secure, which means the information you send and receive through the website is private. However, even if you see this icon, proper care must be taken when sharing private information, such as checking the address bar to ensure you are on the correct site you intended to visit.
  • The icon implies that the site is not using a private connection. It indicates that the protocol is conveying some information about the site’s security, or the site is not secure at all. There is a chance that someone else might be accessing the information or changing the information that you send and receive through this website. However, on some sites, you can access a more secure version of the webpage. To do this:
  1. Select the address bar
  2. Delete and replace “http://” with “https://”.

In case it does not work, you must consider contacting the site administrator to inform them to secure their site with HTTPS.

  • If the icon Dangerous appears on the left-hand side of the address bar, it suggests that your connection is not private, and there is a problem with the site. You should avoid making transactions and sharing your personal information until this issue is resolved.

When you browse a site that implements a secure connection (HTTPS), the site server uses a certificate to prove the website’s identity to browsers. Anyone can create a certificate and claim to be any website they want. In conclusion, you can determine if a site is using SSL by checking for the padlock icon or a green bar at the left-hand side of the address bar of your browser. You can click on the icons that appear to see information about the purpose the certificate is intended for, who issued it, for whom it is issued, its validity, and to manage your SSL settings as well.

Types of SSL Certificate

There are several types of SSL certificate to choose from and following are the list of SSL certificates.

  1. Domain Validation (DV)
  2. Organization Validation (OV)
  3. Extended Validation (EV)
  4. SAN/UC certs
  5. Wildcard Certificates

Some Browsers Don’t Support SSL Certificates

Unsupported browsers include:

  • Google Chrome (older than version 6)
  • Internet (older than version 7)
  • Firefox (older than version 2.0)
  • Safari (older than version 2.1)
  • All Internet Explorer versions on Windows XP

Unsupported Mobile Browsers Include:

  • Safari browsers ( iOS version older than 4.0)
  • Android browsers ( older than 3.0 (Honeycomb)
  • Windows Phone browsers ( version older than 7)

Why Do I Need An SSL Certificate?

An SSL certificate help to protect your website, content and sensitive files from hackers. It also:

  • Keeps data secure between servers
  • Increases your Google Rankings.
  • Builds/Enhances customer trust
  • Improves conversion rates

How Does SSL Work?

How Does SSL Certificate Work

An efficient method for encrypting data and information is asymmetric cryptography, which requires two cryptographic keys (essentially very large numbers) – one public and the other private. The calculations and computations involved in this process are complex. You can use the public key to encrypt data, but the private key is needed to decrypt it. The two keys are related to each other by a certain intricate mathematical formula, where cryptanalysis methods, like brute force attacks, are difficult to perform (anyone who has studied security and cryptography would find it easy to understand). When people type a secured web address into a browser or are redirected to a secure page, the web browser and the web server establish a connection.

SSL utilises this asymmetric cryptography at the beginning of the connection to encrypt information and data. While establishing the connection, the public and private keys are used to create a session key (used to encrypt and decrypt the data to be transferred). This session key is valid for a specific period and can only be used for that particular session.

To communicate securely over the internet, encryption is absolutely necessary. Without encryption, data packets could be accessed by a third party, and confidential information would no longer be confidential. As a result, the entire transmission session is much more secure and harder to break due to asymmetric cryptography.

Up to this point, you should have acquired a significant amount of knowledge about what SSL is and how it works. Now, let’s take a look at the key reasons why it’s important, shall we?

When a website has an SSL certification, the HTTP changes to a more secure version (HTTPS) – with “S” indicating that the website is secure.

Https SSL Certificates List

  • The primary function of SSL is to protect client-server data transmission. On an SSL-certified website, data and information are encrypted; in other words, the data is sealed and can be unsealed only by the intended recipient, preventing malicious hackers from gaining access to it due to the stronger encryption algorithms used.
  • Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is essential when sharing sensitive information, such as passwords, banking credentials, or third-party payment gateways. It ensures that only the intended individual or organisation can access the information being transferred, which is especially important considering the number of devices/servers the information passes through before reaching its final destination.
  • Today, “https://” is seen as a prefix before almost every website URL, whether it’s blogs or social media. One of the significant advantages of using SSL in web connectivity is that search engines tend to give an extra boost to rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). This prompted websites of every niche to implement SSL certification to increase their rankings, implying that websites with insecure connections are unlikely to rank in higher positions.
  • SSL upholds a site’s identity and provides authentication, which maintains customer trust. The SSL trust mark (https) assures users that the data and personal information they send over is secure. It also allows them to view your website’s details, and once they are convinced that it is a legitimate one, they are more likely to stay and visit again.

Conclusion

Hackers are becoming increasingly numerous and advanced in manipulating websites, especially commercial sites containing essential financial data. A single breach can result in significant liability costs and affect customer trust in a business. This necessitates the implementation of SSL certificates on websites.

SSL is more than just a protocol for providing security for websites; it is highly relied upon in cybersecurity. When visitors see the SSL icon displayed on a website, they are assured that their personal/financial information is transmitted over secure routes. This helps develop customer loyalty to your brand.

GET THE BEST APPS IN YOUR INBOX

Don't worry we don't spam

Login/Register access is temporary disabled