SSL settings: What they are and how they work

​​What are SSL settings, and why do I need them?

Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is the industry-standard technology for maintaining a secure internet connection and protecting any sensitive data being communicated between two systems. It does this by preventing hackers from accessing and altering any information transferred, including potentially personal details. The two systems can be server and client or server to server. It does this by scrambling data using encryption methods.

There are numerous reasons why SSL is useful to users, including:

• Secures purchases
  Business Insider reports that 74% of shopping carts are abandoned but that up to 64% can be recovered with improved checkout security and flow. If customers are certain that the checkout area is secure, many of these 64% are more likely to finish their transaction. Businesses cannot afford to ignore that figure. It's certainly worth it, even if they only use SSL for their checkout area.

• Offers memberships
  SSL is a good option if websites sell membership or do anything that requires gathering email addresses and other sensitive information. It makes sense to safeguard consumer information as much as you can.

• Useful for forms
  The same is true if you employ any form that asks consumers to send in data, files, or images. It's amazing how much data is gathered about site users, so it's important to keep it secure.

Should SSL settings be on or off?

Businesses should have SSL certificates on their websites if they ask visitors for personal information like an email address or payment information. Having one ensures that the information you are gathering is secure and that customers may feel confident that their privacy is protected when they see the padlock and https://. We recommend that you have SSL-enabled connections turned on, on all devices.

Guide to enabling or disabling Secure Socket Layer (SSL) settings

SSL uses two long strings of randomly generated numbers, which are known as private and public keys. A public key is available to the public domain as it is a part of your SSL certificate and is made known to your server; a private key remains a secret only you know. 

To enable or disable SSL settings, follow these simple steps:

1. Select Access > Secure Socket Layer in the Work Items navigation window. The screen for Secure Socket Layer will appear.
2. View the current SSL settings, then click the button to turn Secure Socket Layer on or off.
3. Choose Apply. The submission of the SSL update is verified by a popup notification. Click OK.
4. Reload the page.