Securing Website Information with SSL Certificates
by Effect Web Media, an Indiana Web Design Company
What is a SSL Certificate?
An SSL Certificate protects the information being sent and received between the website and the user. The SSL Certificate encrypts the data to prevent eavesdropping by a 3rd party.
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. A SSL Certificate contains the secure website domain name, the website owner’s information, an expiration date, and a “brand name”. The domain name and website owner information must match the website the SSL Certificate is used for.
Does Your Website Need an SSL Certificate?
Typical data that is sent across the internet with your browser is as secure as yelling it out across a parking lot filled with people. Does your website need an SSL certificate? Just ask yourself the following: Is the user submitting any information through forms? If so, is any of that data sensitive? If there’s something in that form you wouldn’t want just anyone to know, then you need to purchase a SSL Certificate and have it installed correctly.
If your website currently accepts credit cards through a form which emails the website administration the credit card information, your website is taking double the risk. Email is not secure. A typical email is passed between many servers (which are owned and operated by different people) before it reaches it’s destination. Even if your website has SSL, but then emails the credit card info, it’s really not doing the customer much good. Your website needs a orders database and administration backend (under SSL) to avoid sending credit card data through email. For more information, contact us: (574) 831.6299
Is Your SSL Certificate Installed Correctly?
If the domain name does not match the website you are interacting with, or the expiration date is off, your browser will notify you. You’ve probably been surfing on the net, maybe in the middle of making a purchase and you get a warning box that pops up saying you have not chosen to trust this source yet. Your browser will notify you (or your customers) of this if your SSL Certificate was not generated from a brand name company that your browser trusts. It’s important to purchase a SSL certificate that has a brand name which browsers recognize. This way, your customers won’t be interrupted in the middle of purchasing from your website. Many shopping carts are abandoned when customers see a warning like that.
Let us purchase and install your SSL Certificate. Click here for SSL Purchasing information.
