What is an SSL Certificate and Why Does My Ecommerce Website Need One?
What is SSL?
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol for enabling data encryption on the Internet and for helping web site users confirm the owner of the web site. SSL is most commonly used to protect communications between web browsers and servers. However, it is increasingly used for server to server communications and for web-based applications.
How do web site visitors know if a web site is using SSL?
When a browser connects to a secure site it retrieves the site’s SSL certificate and checks that it has not expired, that it has been issued by a Certificate Authority the browser trusts and that it is being used by the web site for which it has been issued. If it fails on any one of these checks the browser will display a warning to the end user. If it succeeds, several security indicators are built into modern browsers to indicate that SSL is enabled.
- The beginning of the URL or web address changes from http:// to https://
- A padlock on the browser window changes from open to closed
- The address bar will turn green and display the name of the web site owner when connecting to a web site protected by an Extended Validation SSL certificate.
In addition, a trust mark such as the RapidSSL site seal may be added to web pages on a secure site.
What does browser recognition mean?
When a browser or operating system encounters an SSL certificate, it checks to make sure that the certificate is valid and trusted. An SSL certificate is trusted if it is signed by a “trusted” or pre-installed root certificate. If a browser that does not contain the root CA certificate used to issue the SSL certificate, a security warning will alert them.