Insight Publication

In the world of the Internet, there may be many terms that you frequently see and take for granted.  You may understand what they mean, or simply know that you must type in certain letters in order to get to the site you are trying to access.  You may see acronyms such as HTTP, HTML, SEO, and many others.  There is a very important term that many people don’t really understand but that can make a big difference to your business, and that is SSL Certificate.  The Secure Socket Layer, or SSL has to do with the encryption of private and sensitive information or data that is transferred across the Internet. 

Web browsers and servers use an encryption process to mix up the data that has been entered before it is transferred from one site to another.  So the sending server mixes up the data and the receiving server then must decode the information so that it can be used.  This means that even if an unauthorized party managed to access the information while it is being transferred, they could not use it because it would be all mixed up.  This is a major safety feature that is important to have on any website that handles personal or confidential information.

An SSL Certificate is the thing that lets other servers know that the website is trusted and secure.  Once that is established, secure data can be exchanged with the site in question.  If your website is not certified, then other servers will not send or accept information or data from it.  Certificate Authorities (CA)s act as trusted third parties and are the issuers of the digital SSL certificate.  If you want your site to have credibility, you need to have this certification.

Your customers want the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their data is safe and secure.  By having an SSL Certificate seal issued by the CA, your users will know that their information will be encrypted before it is transferred.  It is a good idea to also include a privacy page so that your customers know that their information will remain private.

You can’t just receive an SSL certificate by simply creating a website.  You have to contact a CA and apply for one by sending information about the company and the website, including such things as business licenses.  Once the CA has all of the necessary information they can authenticate the website.  Your certificate can actually be issued in just a few hours after you complete the application process.

By becoming certified, your website is verified to be able to make secure transfers of data and information.  If your site deals with personal information or credit card numbers for purchase of your product, you will definitely need to be certified.  Your customers want to know that there are precautions being taken to protect their personal and financial information from third parties.  They will be more likely to complete their transactions and actually purchase your products.  If there is no SSL Certificate, people will be much less likely to actually input the necessary information to make a purchase.