What is SSL?

What is SSL?
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a standard technology that allows establishing a secure encrypted connection between a web server (host) and a web browser (client).

This connection ensures that data transmitted between host and client remains private and reliable. SSL is now used by millions of websites to protect their online transactions with customers.

If you’ve ever visited a website that uses https:// in the address bar, you’ve created a secure connection over SSL. If you have an online store or sell items on a website, SSL will help build trust with customers and secure information exchanged between you and customers.

The importance of SSL

SSL helps protect sensitive information as it travels across computer networks around the world. It provides privacy, strict security and integrity for both website data and visitors’ personal information.

SSL encrypts sensitive information
SSL keeps sensitive information encrypted when sent over the Internet and only the intended recipients can understand it.

When information you send on the Internet is transmitted from computer to computer, then to a destination server. Any computer between you and the server can see your credit card numbers, account names and passwords, and other sensitive information, when they are not encrypted with an SSL certificate.

When an SSL Certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except the server the information is being sent to. Thanks to that, hackers and thieves cannot read or steal information.

How is an encrypted connection established?

SSL secure connection is done through the steps below:

Step 1: Enter or select a URL: https://
Step 2: The web server will receive your request and then send a response that is trying to establish a trusted connection between the web browser and the web server, also known as the “SSL handshake”.
Step 3: After SSL Certificate validation via SSL handshake, data transmitted between the web server and web browser will be encrypted to ensure safety and privacy.

SSL provides authentication
In addition to encryption, a suitable SSL certificate also provides authentication. This means you can be sure you’re sending information to the correct server and not to some imposter trying to steal your information.

A trusted SSL provider will only issue an SSL Certification to a company, provided that company is confirmed to have passed a number of identity checks. Some SSL Certifications, such as EV SSL Certificates, require more validation than others.

You can use the SSL Wizard to compare SSL providers, available in most web browsers. The web browser will generate an assertion that the SSL provider is taking specific actions and is audited by a 3rd party using a standard such as WebTrust.

SSL provides trust
Web browsers will provide users with signals to know that their connection is secure, which can be a lock icon or a green bar. Thanks to that, customers will trust the website more and increase their ability to make purchases and stick with the website. The SSL provider will also give you a mark of trust to make customers trust you even more.

SSL brings trust to visitors
HTTPS also helps protect against phishing attacks. A phishing email is an email sent from a criminal trying to impersonate your website.

This email often has a link to the criminal’s website or uses a Man-in-the-middle attack (the criminal will trick customers into sending them sensitive information) on the website’s domain name.

But it is often difficult for an eavesdropper or hacker to obtain an SSL Certificate, so if the website has SSL, they cannot perfectly impersonate the website, and users will be less likely to be scammed.

SSL is required for PCI Compliance
To accept credit card information on a website, you must pass checks to prove that you are complying with Payment Card Industry, PCI standards. One of those requirements is to use SSL Certificate.

SSL for SEO
Google has announced that HTTPS will be a criterion for website ranking. This means that when providing results to searchers, a website with SSL will be given priority over a website of the same type but without SSL.

Does SSL have any disadvantages?

• High cost: Cost comes from establishing a trusted infrastructure and identity confirmation.
• Next is performance.

The transmitted information will be encrypted, which will consume more server resources than unencrypted information. But, this performance difference only becomes noticeable for websites with a large number of visitors, and can be overcome by using more powerful hardware.

In general, the disadvantages of SSL compared to the advantages and importance of SSL are insignificant. Using SSL properly will help protect customers, websites, data, build and maintain customer trust, and sell more products.

:: Chứng chỉ bảo mật, ssl, ssl certificate, websites, data, bảo mật, người dùng, PCI standards, SSL provides trust

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