WISENIC

FAQ on SSL Certificates

In a digital world, a hand written signature has no meaning, there is always an element of doubt when sending or receiving sensitive information. A large percentage of internet users leave websites when asked to provide any information about themselves, simply because the website was not a secure website. There is no better way of building user's trust than by enabling SSL on your website and getting an SSL Certificate for your website.


• What is a SSL Certificate?
  
  A SSL Certificate allows you to establish your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. You can present a SSL Certificate electronically to prove your identity or your right to access information or services online.
  
  SSL Certificates, bind an identity to a pair of electronic keys that can be used to encrypt and sign digital information. A SSL Certificate makes it possible to verify someone's claim that they have the right to use a given key, helping to prevent people from using phony keys to impersonate other users. Used in conjunction with encryption, SSL Certificates provide a more complete security solution, assuring the identity of all parties involved in a transaction.
  
  A SSL Certificate is issued by a Certification Authority (CA) and signed with the CA's private key. A SSL Certificate typically contains the:
  
  Owner's public key
  Owner's name
  Expiration date of the public key
  Name of the issuer (the CA that issued the SSL Certificate)
  Serial number of the SSL Certificate
  Digital signature of the issuer
  


• What are SSL Certificates used for?
  
  SSL Certificates can be used for a variety of electronic transactions including e-mail, electronic commerce, groupware and electronic funds transfers.
  
  For example, a customer shopping at an electronic mall requests the SSL Certificate of the server to authenticate the identity of the mall operator and the content provided by the merchant. Without authenticating the server, the shopper would not trust the operator or merchant with sensitive information like a credit card number. The SSL Certificate is instrumental in establishing a secure channel for communicating any sensitive information back to the mall operator.


• When would you require a SSL Certificate?
  
  If you are running a virtual mall, electronic banking website or any other electronic services website then customers may abandon your website due to concerns about privacy and security. A server with its own SSL Certificate assures users that the server is run by the organization it claims to be affiliated with and that the content provided is legitimate.


• What does a SSL Certificate tell your site visitors?
  
  Customers today demand the highest levels of online safety. When you have a valid SSL SSL Certificate, your site visitors can see it to check:
  
  That it was indeed issued for your website
  Who the owner of the website is and his/her physical location
  The validity of the certificate
  
  A SSL Certificate helps achieve:
  
  Authenticity: The senders (originators) key is used to add a signature to the data. This signature uniquely authenticates the sender. The recipient can be confident that the data was composed by the sender.
  
  Integrity: The electronic signature is unique to the data. An alteration invalidates the signature. Both parties can be sure that the information is unchanged.
  
  Non-repudiation: Once singed, One cannot revoke the validity or claim that he/she didn't sign the data.


• Why you MUST have a SSL Certificate?
  
  SSL Certificate is a single source to combat all the fraudulent transaction prevailing on the Internet. It not only encrypts all the data which is shared between the client and a server but also helps in gaining the trust of your Customer while logging in your Customer account or while purchasing any product from your website.


• What is an Additional License?
  
  A SSL Certificate by itself can be used to secure a domain name only on a single server. Additional License(s) for a SSL Certificate allows you to conveniently secure a domain name on multiple servers, using the same SSL Certificate.


• What is a Certification Authority (CA)?
  
  A trusted third-party organization or company that issues SSL Certificates used to create digital signatures and public-private key pairs. The role of the CA in this process is to guarantee that the individual granted the unique certificate is, in fact, who he or she claims to be. CAs are a critical component in data security and electronic commerce because they guarantee that the two parties exchanging information are really who they claim to be.