SSL Cert: why does it matter?
SSL Cert – or SSL Certification – is a qualification bestowed on websites that reach the required SSL Standards. This can serve a multitude of benefits, such as general safety and customer reassurance, but it always helps to understand just why this is.
This is important when you consider the popularity of e-commerce and other online activity. As we move into a period of smart phones, tablets and the Internet of Things, it's important to keep an eye on security. SSL, of course, plays an important role in this, so it helps to be aware of its benefits.
What is SSL
Secure Sockets Layer – or SSL for short – is a method of encryption. When you give a website or online business your information, you're firing data off between your computer and that website's server. This stream of data will often hold something sensitive. For instance, if it's an e-commerce website, you'll be giving relevant financial data.SSL encrypts and unravels this at both ends. By using specific keys that nobody else has access to, SSL ensures the data stream in the middle is unreadable by people hacking into it. In short, it ensures only those with the given authority have the keys to translate the data.
Identifying certification
One of the key benefits of SSL Cert is that it easily highlights the standard of SSL being used. SSL Certification, awarded by a recognised authority such as Thawte, has specific requirements and, if met, this will be shown by a padlock symbol near the URL on your web browser; if the site has an Extended Validation (SSL EV) certificate, this will be bright green. In both cases, the URL will also start with HTTPS rather than HTTP.The fight against data theft
As online business becomes more and more popular, so does data theft. Today, it is a major risk and using the wrong website can mean losing your financial data. Even if you react quickly, the right criminal will manage to withdraw some of your money or sell your data on to someone else.
SSL is one important way to prevent this. When a large website has numerous customers sending such private information, it will likely attract some attention. Fortunately, SSL encryption makes this difficult to read. This has a two-fold effect of rebuking those who try and simply putting off the more opportunistic of thieves. (394 total words in this text)
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