SSL stands for “Secure Socket Layer”, it ensures that a secure, encrypted link is established between your visitor’s Web browser and your Web site. SSL protects all your sensitive data by encrypting the transmitted information. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an undecipherable format that can only be returned to a readable format with the proper decryption key.
An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website. It establishes a secure encrypted connection between your website and the visitor’s browser and allows them to communicate privately via the HTTPS protocol.
Each SSL Certificate is issued for a specific server and a website. When a person navigates to a website that has an SSL Certificate, a “handshake” between the browser and server takes place, resulting in a secure session with a unique session key. Every SSL session consists of a Public key used to encrypt (jumble up) the information and a Private Key used to decrypt (un-jumble) the information and restore it to its original format. All this happens behind the scene without interrupting the user’s experience.
An SSL Certificated website has an HTTPS:// prefix in the URL and a key or padlock icon in the browser's status bar. The browser bar turns green, if the website has Extended Validation SSL Certificate.
Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates offers the highest industry standard for authentication and offer the highest available data encryption. Extended Validation (EV) Certificates trigger a green address bar when user visit a Website secured by an EV SSL Certificate.
An EV SSL Certificate increases trust in your Web site, and helps you gain competitive advantage.
You need SSL if...
- You have an ecommerce website and you take online orders
- Your website offer username and password login
- You process confidential data like credit card info, address, birth date, license, or ID numbers
- You need to maintain the privacy and security of users’ data
- You need the seal of security to gain the trust of users