What is a SSL certificate?
What is SSL?
SSL protects data transmitted over the Internet from being intercepted and viewed by unintended recipients. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a security technology that is commonly used for encrypting communications between users and e-commerce websites.
The most common use of SSL is securing monetary browser to server transactions. The SSL protocol encrypts data during the transaction process to prevent eavesdropping and tampering of data and is also used to secure information passed by a browser (such as a customer’s credit card number or password) to a web server (such as an e-commerce shopping cart). A digital certifcate makes all this possible by verifying the sites credentials against whom they say they really are and the verfied database of certificate holder information.
Identifying a Secure Session
Customers have two ways of identifying whether they have established an SSL session while browsing your web site;
1. A small gold padlock will display in the lower right corner of the users browser status bar
2. And, the address in the address bar will begin with https:// instead of http://
SSL certificates can be used on web servers for Internet security and mail servers such as pop3 and smtp for mail security when collection and sending.
