How SSL Certificates Work
Small businesses can make giant leaps toward ensuring the protection of their customers by investing in secure sockets layer (SSL) technology for their Web sites and online transactions. Any Web site collecting confidential information such as credit card numbers should know that SSL is a necessary tool for encoding this sensitive information to protect it for your clients and ensure your company’s good reputation.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a communications protocol designed to enable secure communications over the Internet, delivering encryption and integrity of communications along with strong authentication using digital certificates. Any communications that are not encrypted can be intercepted. The SSL security protocol provides data encryption, server authentication, message integrity and client authentication for TCP/IP connections, allowing client/server applications to communicate in a way that prevents eavesdropping, tampering or message forgery. It in turn creates a secure link between the buyer and the seller.
Implementing this type of system can be quite easy using a shared Web hosting package. Most shared hosting packages will offer shared SSL capacity. A shared SSL service will allow small businesses to conduct encrypted Web transactions without having to purchase personalized SSL certificates. Information transmitted in this manner will dump into a secured file directory, which can be retrieved at will. Normally, such information is collected from an online form and is encoded into a flat text file that can be loaded into a database, or billing or accounting software.
Small businesses also have the option of purchasing their own dedicated SSL certificates if they use a dedicated or virtual private server. Web server certificates are used to authenticate the identity of a Web site to visiting browsers. When a user wants to send confidential information to a Web server, the browser will access the server’s digital certificate.
The use of certificates amongst small business is increasing due to growing competition and decreasing prices. The number of vendors, otherwise known as certification authorities, that issue certificates has increased and is rapidly expanding, placing downward pressure on prices. Several years ago, the price of a single SSL certificate averaged $500. Now the average price for an SSL certificate is around $50 of less, making the technology’s implementation quite affordable.
Find an SSL Certificate in our SSL Certificate directory.