Secure Socket Layer

What is a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)?

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is an encryption-based Internet security protocol that provides privacy, authentication, and integrity to Internet communications. SSL is the predecessor to the modern TLS encryption used today. A website that implements SSL/TLS has HTTPS in its URL instead of HTTP.

Why is SSL Important?

SSL was developed to guarantee user privacy. SSL ensures that anyone who intercepts data can only see a jumbled mess of symbols by encrypting all data that travels between a user and a web server. Additionally, SSL prevents various cyberattacks. It authenticates web servers, which is crucial because hackers frequently attempt to create fake websites to deceive users and steal data.

 How the SSL Certificate is Obtained

To get a certificate, you must submit a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) on your server. This will create a public key and a private key. The public key is stored in the CSR data file you provide to the Certificate Authority (CA), which is responsible for issuing SSL certificates. In order to match your private key without jeopardizing it, the CA builds a data structure from the CSR data file. The CA will never see the private key.

Once it’s been obtained, install the SSL certificate on your server. Additionally, you must install an intermediate certificate that establishes the credibility of your SSL certificate by linking it to your CA’s root certificate. Depending on your server, different steps will need to be followed to install and test your certificate.

Types of SSL Certificates

Different types of SSL certificates are available, with varying levels of validation. The six main kinds include:

1. Extended Validation certificates (EV SSL)
2. Organization Validated certificates (OV SSL)
3. Domain Validated certificates (DV SSL)
4. Wildcard SSL certificates
5. Multi-Domain SSL certificates (MDC)
6. Unified Communications Certificates (UCC)

SSL vs. TLS

SSL is the predecessor to Transport Layer Security (TLS). There are very few significant differences between the final version of SSL (3.0) and TLS 1.0. Because the two are so closely linked, the terms are often used interchangeably.