Everything You Need To Know About SSL Certificates
What Is A Secure Sockets Layer Certification?
If you're the type that uses the internet regularly, you must have come across SSL certificates in action. Have
you ever noticed some URLs come with http:// while others come with https://? If yes, it means you already have
an idea of how SSL certificates work. However, in case you've never noticed such, well, most URLs come in these
two forms. Speaking of the "s" behind the http, it's there to show you that the website has SSL encryption and
security. As such, it means any information that you share on the website is secured. Furthermore, the SSL
certificates are the technology responsible for turning the http to https URLs. Also, that means HTTPS
(Hypertext Transport Protocol Security) is the result you achieve after getting an SSL certificate for your
website.
In case you're interested in knowing how SSL certificates work, then you're in the right place. In this post,
we'll be sharing with you everything you need to know about SSL certificates. These will include 'what is SSL
security, their benefits, and the different SSL certificates we have. Apart from that, we'll also be exploring
how you can get SSL security for your website. That said, let's dive right in
Before going to what an SSL security or certificate is, let's first talk about SSL. It's an acronym for Secure
Sockets Layer. SSL is a cryptographic protocol created to provide websites with communications security over any
computer network. Furthermore, SSL is the predecessor of the latest cryptographic protocol, called Transport
Layer Security (TLS).
So far, there are about seven different versions of SSL or TLS. The first one, called SSL 1.0, was created many
years ago. However, it was never published. The second version, SSL 2.0, was created in 1995, and it became
deprecated in 2011. The third version, SSL 3.0, was created in 1996 and became deprecated in 2015. It's also the
last version of SSL before TLS took over in 1999 with TLS v1.0. There are also TLS versions v1.1, v1.2, and TLS
v1.3 (created in 2018).
Now, let's go back to the question of what is an SSL security and certificate? By definition, SSL security is a
protocol that helps a website to determine how it can encrypt data using specific algorithms. The SSL/TLS
protocol gains access to both the links and data to transmit and assigns encryption variables for them. Also, an
SSL security technology ensures that an encrypted connection is established between the servers and the clients.
If you don't know, the default mode of interaction between web servers and browsers enables data to be sent in
plain text. Although that's great, the problem, however, with this process is that it makes the website highly
vulnerable to hackers' attacks, which could come in the form of an interception. This is where SSL security is
needed. It ensures that every sensitive information shared on the website, including login credentials, bank
information, and many more, is very secured.
On the other hand, an SSL certificate is a technology that enables the customer's browser to connect to their
website's server securely. Furthermore, it's worth knowing that SSL certificates are of different types and fall
under three categories; encryption and validation and domain number. Let's look at each of them below: