SSL Certificates

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

The answer might be no. Well, if you are not familiar with the term yet, it’s time to get a clue on it as it is one hell of an important factor that maintains a secure connection over the internet and safeguards sensitive data that is 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 link, that is encrypted between the two nodes (your PC and the web server). It acts as the underlying support for “HTTP” and “HTTPS”, that show up on the address bar of a webpage – indicating that the website is “passed through” a secure and encrypted connection.

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) that acted as an improvement for SSL. However, usually, SSL is used to specify 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 is, as mentioned above, what 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 the assurance that the information that is being transmitted across the internet.

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

• If the website has a padlock icon 🔒 on it, it is regarded as secure which means the information you send and get 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 same site you actually wanted to visit.
• The icon  implies that the site is not using a private connection. It specifies that the protocol is conveying some information regarding the site 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. The instructions are given in the below:

1. Select the address bar
2. Delete and replace “https://” 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  shows up 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 must avoid making transactions and sharing your personal information unless this issue isn’t resolved.

When you browse a site that implements a secure connection (HTTPS), the site server uses a certificate to prove the website’s identification to browsers. Anyone can create a certificate and claim to be whatever website they want. Conclusively, 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 show up, to see the information regarding the purpose the certificate is intended for, who issued this certificate, for whom it is issued, it’s 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)

How Does SSL Work?

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

SSL uses this asymmetric cryptography at the initialization of the connection to encrypt the information and data. While making 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 time and only be used for that particular session.

In order to communicate securely over the internet, encryption is absolutely necessary. Without encryption, the data packets could well be accessed by a third party and confidential information would no longer be confidential. Because of the fact that asymmetric cryptography, therefore the whole transmission session is much more secure and harder to break than it would otherwise be.

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

• The chief function of SSL is to safeguard the client-server data transmission. On a SSL certified website, the data and information are encrypted or in other words, the data is sealed and can be unsealed by the intended recipient so that mischievous hackers are not able to gain access to it, due to stronger algorithms used for encryption.
• Secure socket layer (SSL) is an absolute necessity when it comes to sharing sensitive information such as-passwords, banking credentials or third-party payment gateways.

It ensures that only the intended individual or organization accesses the information that is being transferred. This is especially important considering the number of devices/servers the information goes through before it finally reaches the desired destination.

• Today, “https://” is seen as a prefix before almost every website url, be it blogs or social media. One of the major advantages of using SSL in web connectivity is that search engines tend to give an extra amount of boost to the rankings on the search engine result pages (SERPs). This prompted websites of every niche to implement SSL certification to increase their rankings. This implies that websites with insecure connections are unlikely to rank at higher positions.
• SSL upholds the identity and provides authentication to a site, which maintains trust from the customer. The SSL trust mark (https) ensures the users that the data and personal information they send over, is secure. It also enables them to view your websites details and once they are assured that yours is a legitimate one, they are more likely to stay and visit again.

Conclusion

Hackers are becoming more numerous and more advanced in manipulating websites; especially commercial sites where important financial data might be contained. A single breach can create a great 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 to provide security for websites. It is relied upon greatly in cybersecurity. When visitors see the SSL icon affixed on a website, they’re assured that their personal/financial information is transmitted over secure routes. This helps develop customer loyalty in your brand.