Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is the most widely used technology for providing secure communication between the web client and the web server. Most of us are familiar with many sites such as Gmail, Facebook, and banking, and almost every site, etc. has HTTPS protocol in their login pages. When we see this, we may wonder what’s the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. In simple words, the HTTP protocol is used for standard communication between the Web server and the client. HTTPS is used for SECURE communication.
The SSL certificate has two specific functions:
- Authentication and Verification: The SSL certificate contains information about the authenticity of certain details regarding the identity of a person, business or website, which it will display to visitors on your website when they click on the browser’s padlock symbol or trust mark. The vetting criteria used by Certificate Authorities to determine if an SSL certificate should be issued is most stringent with an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate; making it the most trusted SSL certificate available.
- Data Encryption: The SSL certificate also enables encryption, which means that the sensitive information exchanged via the website cannot be intercepted or read by anyone other than the intended recipient. It’s kind of like sealing a letter in an envelope before sending it through the mail.
The Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol was created by Netscape to ensure secure transactions between web servers and browsers. The protocol uses a third party, the Certificate Authority (CA), to identify one end or both ends of the transaction. This is in short how it works.
Here a certain set of steps that were followed to have secure communication
- A browser requests a secure page (usually https://).
- The web server sends its public key with its certificate.
- The browser checks that the certificate was issued by a trusted party (usually a trusted root CA), that the certificate is still valid and that the certificate is related to the site contacted.
- The browser then uses the public key to encrypt a random symmetric encryption key and sends it to the server with the encrypted URL required as well as other encrypted http data.
- The web server decrypts the symmetric encryption key using its private key and uses the symmetric key to decrypt the URL and HTTP data.
- The web server sends back the requested HTML document and HTTP data encrypted with the symmetric key.
- The browser decrypts the HTTP data and HTML document using the symmetric key and displays the information.
Advantages of SSL Certificate –
As SSL is the standard mark to ensure users about website safety it includes the following benefits –
- Personal Information Protection
- SSL certificate affirms your identity
- Google gives preference to websites in search engine ranking
- SSL certificate improves customer’s trust
