SSL Certificates - Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Digital (SSL) Certificate?
A Digital Certificate allows you to establish your credentials when doing
business or other transactions on the Web. You can present a Digital
Certificate electronically to prove your identity or your right to access
information or services online.
Digital Certificates, bind an identity to a pair of electronic keys that can
be used to encrypt and sign digital information. A Digital 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, Digital Certificates
provide a more complete security solution, assuring the identity of all
parties involved in a transaction.
A Digital Certificate is issued by a Certification Authority (CA) and signed with the CA's private key. A Digital 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 Digital Certificate)
- Serial number of the Digital Certificate
- Digital signature of the issuer
What are Digital Certificates used for?
Digital 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 Digital
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 Digital Certificate is
instrumental in establishing a secure channel for communicating any
sensitive information back to the mall operator.
When would you require a Digital 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 Digital
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 Digital Certificate tell your site visitors?
Customers today demand the highest levels of online safety. When you have a valid SSL digital 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 Digital 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 Digital Certificate?
Digital 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 Digital Certificate by itself can be used to secure a domain name only on
a single server. Additional License(s) for a Digital Certificate allows you
to conveniently secure a domain name on multiple servers, using the same
Digital Certificate.
What is a Certification Authority (CA)?
A trusted third-party organization or company that issues digital
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.
What do we offer?
We have partnered with thawte (unit of VeriSign, Inc.) which is
well-recognized & trusted by users worldwide. In fact thawte is considered
to be the most reliable Digital (SSL) Certificate brand in the industry
today. Click here (link to SSL pricing/information page) to view the various
types of certificates offered.
