An Introduction to SSL Certificates

Secured Sockets Layer or SSL is a protocol created by Netscape. It allows for secure data transmissions over the internet. When you use SSL this ensures the data you transmit will be sent exactly as you have sent it without changing anything, and that it gets sent to only the specific server that it’s intended for. It’s therefore vital to have SSL to ensure that the data transmitted on your website is secure.

When a website has SSL, the site’s URL will start with ‘https’ instead of the usual ‘http.’ The extra s indicates that the website is secure. This help increase visitor confidence in your website.

Why SSL is Necessary
Two different kinds of keys are used with SSL protocol for encrypting data being transmitted in order to ensure it is secure. Visitors can see the public key. The private key is only visible to the data’s recipient. SSL encryption ensures that confidential and private information remains safe and doesn’t get into the wrong hands.

If your website is an e-commerce site where customers are paying using their credit card, it’s vital that the information from their credit card is secured and that it is not misused in any way. The only way you can ensure this is by having a secure website. SSL offers this to you.

Even if your website isn’t an e-commerce site, but you collect information from your website visitors that is confidential such as contact numbers, addresses and names you still need to have a secure site with SSL for ensuring their safety and privacy.

SSL Certificates
It’s usually not required to have SSL certification if the payments processed on your website are done by third party vendors like Paypal. If you do use e-commerce payment gateways, SSL certificates are absolutely necessary.

There are some hosting services that provide shared SSL certifications for their customers. The problem is when a visitor lands on a site with a SSL certification that is shared they receive an error message stating that it isn’t a secure website because the certificate’s validity is in question. Visitors to the site may leave these websites thinking they are unsecure and go to other sites with their business that do have their own secured SSL certifications.

Therefore, if you want to retain visitors as well as paying customers, you need to get private SSL certification of your own and not rely on shared SSL provided by your hosting company.

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