More Information
SSL Certificates provide two things:
- An SSL certificate provides security by encrypting the data between the browser and the web server. Obviously, data encryption is important for financial transactions or other situations where websites are requesting sensitive data from visitors. Without that SSL certificate, and the little lock icon in the browser, most web surfers won't provide that data.
- A SSL certificate provides identity verification, through domain and organization validation. New Extended Validation (EV) certificates take identity validation to the next level. Sites with an EV certificate will cause the address bar on Firefox, Internet Explorer or other current browsers to turn green. Users are able to view information about the website that will help them to confirm that they are dealing with who they think they are dealing with.
Both applications of SSL Certificates are important for building the trust relationship required before users will pass along personal, or financial information to websites or online service providers.
Practical Applications for SSL Certificates
The perception of SSL Certificates is that they are primarily used to secure the transmission of financial information in ecommerce. But with identity theft on the rise and more and more businesses opening up their networks via the Internet, protecting all types of personally identifiable information (social security numbers, login information, etc.) and key business information is important. SSL Certificates should be used to secure the following:
- Web servers
- Mail servers
- Web forums
- Blogging platforms
- Control panels
- Corporate intra- and extranets
- Wikis
- VPNs
- Customer portals
- and more!