How To Secure Your Website With SSL

What Is an SSL Certificate?

SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer, which connects your computer to a server that is secure. SSL is typically used to transfer your credit card details, debit care details, personal information, banking details, and tax information over to another business server.

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SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer is a standard security protocol for establishing encrypted links between a web server and a browser in an online communication.

The usage of SSL technology ensures that all data transmitted between the web server and browser remains encrypted.

An SSL certificate is necessary to create an SSL connection. You would need to give all details about the identity of your website and your company as and when you choose to activate SSL on your web server. Following this, two cryptographic keys are created – a Private Key and a Public Key.




Private Key and public key are a part of encryption that encodes the information. Both keys work in two encryption systems called symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric encryption (private-key encryption or secret-key encryption) utilize the same key for encryption and decryption. Asymmetric encryption utilizes a pair of keys like public and private key for better security where a message sender encrypts the message with the public key and the receiver decrypts it with his/her private key.

Public and Private key pair helps to encrypt information that ensures data is protected during transmission.

Public Key:

Public key uses asymmetric algorithms that convert messages into an unreadable format. A person who has a public key can encrypt the message intended for a specific receiver. The receiver with the private key can only decode the message, which is encrypted by the public key. The key is available via the publicly accessible directory.

Private Key:

The private key is a secret key that is used to decrypt the message and the party knows it that exchange message. In the traditional method, a secret key is shared within communicators to enable encryption and decryption the message, but if the key is lost, the system becomes void. To avoid this weakness, PKI (public key infrastructure) came into force where a public key is used along with the private key. PKI enables internet users to exchange information in a secure way with the use of a public and private key.

What is SSL used for?

The SSL protocol is used by millions of online business to protect their customers, ensuring their online transactions remain confidential. A web page should use encryption when it expects users to submit confidential data, including personal information, passwords, or credit card details. All web browsers have the ability to interact with secured sites so long as the site’s certificate is issued by a trusted CA.

What is SSL/TLS Certificate?

SSL or TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates are data files that bind a cryptographic key to the details of an organization. When SSL/TLS certificate is installed on a web server, it enables a secure connection between the web server and the browser that connects to it. The website’s URL is prefixed with “https” instead of “HTTP” and a padlock is shown on the address bar. If the website uses an extended validation (EV) certificate, then the browser may also show a green address bar.

Why do I need an SSL certificate?

The internet has spawned new global business opportunities for enterprises conducting online commerce. However, that growth has also attracted fraudsters and cybercriminals who are ready to exploit any opportunity to steal consumer bank account numbers and card details. Any moderately skilled hacker can easily intercept and read the traffic unless the connection between a client (e.g. internet browser) and a web server is encrypted.

How Does SSL Work?

The following graphic explains how SSL Certificate works on a website. The process of how an ‘SSL handshake’ takes place is explained below:

An end-user asks their browser to make a secure connection to a website (e.g.https://www.example.com)

The browser obtains the IP address of the site from a DNS server then requests a secure connection to the website.

To initiate this secure connection, the browser requests that the server identifies itself by sending a copy of its SSL certificate to the browser.

The browser checks the certificate to ensure:

That it is signed by a trusted CA

That it is valid – that it has not expired or been revoked

That it confirms to required security standards on key lengths and other items.

That the domain listed on the certificate matches the domain that was requested by the user.

When the browser confirms that the website can be trusted, it creates a symmetric session key which it encrypts with the

public key in the website’s certificate. The session key is then sent to the web server.

The web server uses its private key to decrypt the symmetric session key.

The server sends back an acknowledgment that is encrypted with the session key.

From now on, all data transmitted between the server and the browser is encrypted and secure.

SSL Benefits For Vistors:

Increased Customers Confidence.

A secure website allows them to make sure that they are on the website they want and not a fraudulent version.

Other benefits from using SSL

Besides the obvious reason why you should use an SSL certificate to protect your visitor’s data, it has other benefits. Although the opinions differ, it is said that having an SSL certificate boosts your SEO. In 2014 Google announced that it will begin to give a ranking boost to SSL-secured websites.