SSL certificates play a key role in preventing security vulnerabilities (such as packet sniffing, man-in-the-middle attacks, data theft, etc.). With the vigorous development of e-commerce and the digitization of records, secure data transmission has become a concern. Therefore, more and more users have applied for and deployed SSL certificates to the website .
How does an SSL certificate work?
After the SSL certificate is issued, it needs to be installed on the web server hosting the website. After completing this operation, SSL will activate the https protocol, which provides advanced encryption. It accomplishes this through an advanced cipher suite, which contains many complex algorithms designed to encrypt server-to-client communications.
After the browser sends the request to the SSL-encrypted website, the actual encryption process begins. It initiates the SSL handshake process, in which the server and the client reach an agreement on a specific cipher suite and generate a session key. When the browser tries to establish a connection with the Web server, it asks the server to verify its identity. Then, the server responds with the SSL certificate and its public key, and the browser confirms the SSL certificate and its public key by evaluating the root certificate.
After that, the client and server use session keys, which are symmetric temporary keys that expire after each session. Therefore, if someone intercepts the encrypted data, it looks illegible. On the other hand, the intended recipient's system will decrypt it with the session key.
What are the benefits of SSL certificates?
1) Protect user data security
Your website users or customers will trust you with their email ID and other personal details, and you are obliged to protect it. As we have already discussed, SSL certificates make this possible through client-server data encryption.
2) Improve brand credibility
If your business operates online, there is no physical store. In this case, you can establish more credibility through OV or EV SSL certificates. These two types of SSL are fully verified by a trusted certificate authority, and Internet users trust the certificate authority.