It secures a domain and all its subdomains. This type of certificate only protects one domain and can’t be used for its subdomains. There are various types of SSL certificates based on the number of domains: Instead, set up an SSL certificate to establish trust amongst your visitors and take the SEO boost as a bonus. While setting up an SSL certificate will affect your website’s search engine performance, that’s not why you should use it. While SSL currently carries less impact than other elements, such as high-quality content, the search engine is pushing to make HTTPS the standard for all websites.Īs around 99% of browsing time on Google Chrome is spent on HTTPS sites, having an SSL certificate can make the difference between someone buying from you or clicking away. Google has stated that sites with an SSL certificate outrank those without it when all other ranking factors are equal. If your site handles online payments, you must comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) guidelines, which include having an SSL certificate. Using an SSL certificate is a way of showing visitors that they can trust your site, especially if you run an eCommerce site dealing with online transactions. SSL ensures the transferred data hasn’t been compromised or modified while in transit. SSL enables you to prove your site’s identity. Any website can pretend to be yours in an attempt to intercept the information that people transmit along the way. Some additional SSL benefits for your website include: SSL encryption ensures that only one person – the intended receiver – can decrypt the transferred data. SSL is a must for websites handling sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or credit card numbers. Since HTTPS connections require a certificate to work, look if the site uses an HTTPS web address to identify whether it implements the SSL protocol. The two technologies go hand in hand – you can’t use one without the other. When you set up an SSL certificate, you configure it to transmit encrypted data using HTTPS. This can cause problems if the transmitted data contain confidential information, which attackers can use to commit cyber crimes such as a data breach, cyber extortion, and identity theft. Websites with no SSL certificate will run on HTTP and transfer data in plain text, meaning anyone on the internet can intercept and retrieve the message. These protocols effectively determine how data you send and receive is transmitted. URLs are preceded by either HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) or HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). That way, visitors can instantly see that your site is reliable. Since web browsers actively warn people to avoid unsecured sites, it’s in your best interest to install an SSL certificate and make your website secure. On the other hand, the browser will display a “not secure” warning for non-HTTPS sites. Here’s what it looks like on Google Chrome: It’s possible to know whether a website uses the SSL protocol by looking for a padlock icon on your browser’s address bar.Ĭlick on the icon to view detailed information about the digital certificate, such as the issuer and valid date. Unauthorized third parties will no longer be able to intercept its communication. Once the SSL protocol has been enabled, the website will be secure and encrypted. This key will remain valid for a limited time and only for that particular session. Both parties then use this symmetric key to encrypt all communications.Once the certificate is verified, the browser and web server exchange private and public keys to create a symmetric session key.During the SSL handshake, the browser asks the server for its SSL certificate and public key to prove its validity.When a visitor navigates through the website, the browser and the web server establish an SSL connection using a method called SSL handshake.First, a website owner purchases an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA) and installs it on their site.To give a better understanding of how those encryption techniques work, here’s an overview of the process: On the other hand, symmetric encryption uses one shared key, or a pair of keys, to encrypt and decrypt the message. The public key is used to encrypt the message, which can only be decrypted by the private key, and vice versa. SSL certificates protect data transfer using two different encryption techniques: asymmetric and symmetric.Īsymmetric encryption uses two separate keys: a public and a private key. Subscribe How Does an SSL Certificate Work?
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