What is an SSL Certificate?

What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a global standard security technology that enables encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server. An SSL certificate is a type of digital certificate that provides authentication for a website and enables an encrypted connection. These certificates communicate the client that the web service host demonstrated ownership of the domain to the certificate authority at the time of certificate issuance.  Sino Soft offers SSL certificates for all its clients in Kenya and around the world. 

Where Can One Get an SSL Certificate?

Probably the most important part of an SSL certificate is where it comes from. SSL certificates are issued by Certificate Authorities (CAs), organizations that are trusted to verify the identity and legitimacy of any entity requesting a certificate.

The CA’s role is to accept certificate applications, authenticate applications, issue certificates, and maintain status information on certificates issued.

You may also be able to purchase digital certificates from a domain name registrar or website hosting provider like us.

Sino Soft offers SSL certificates depending on the needs of your website. This is usually done as part of the process of domain registration and hosting for any package.

SSL Certificate packages offered by sinosoft.guru

Who Needs an SSL Certificate?

Any individual or organization that uses their website to require, receive, process, collect, store, or display confidential or sensitive information. Some examples of this information are:

• logins and passwords
• financial information (e.g., credit card numbers, bank accounts)
• personal data (e.g., names, addresses, birth dates)
• proprietary information
• legal documents and contracts

To create this secure connection, an SSL Certificate also referred to as a digital certificate is installed on a web server and serves to:

• Authenticate the identity of the website
• Encrypt the data that’s being transmitted

What are the Different Types of SSL Certificates?

There are many different types of SSL certificates based on the number of domain names or subdomains owned, such as:

• Single Domain SSL Certificate– secures one fully-qualified domain name or subdomain name
• Wildcard SSL Certificate - covers one domain name and an unlimited number of its subdomains
• Multi-Domain/Unified Communications (UCC) SSL Certificate– secures multiple domain names by the same owner

and the level of validation needed, such as:

• Domain Validated (DV) SSL Certificate – this level is the least expensive, and covers basic encryption and verification of the ownership of the domain name registration. This type of certificate usually takes a few minutes to several hours to receive. The CA won’t vet any identity data, so you won’t know who is receiving your encrypted data. The verification happens when you add a DNS to the CA which review the right of the applicant to own the domain being submitted. It secures just the domain but not subdomain(s).
• Organization Validated (OV) SSL Certificate – in addition to basic encryption and verification of ownership of the domain name registration, certain details of the owner (e.g., name and address) are authenticated. This type of certificate usually takes a few hours to several days to receive. On the browser, users would see a small green padlock with the company’s name following.
• Extended Validated (EV) SSL Certificate– this provides the highest degree of security because of the thorough examination that is conducted before this certificate is issued (and as strictly specified in guidelines set by the SSL certification industry’s governing consortium). In addition to ownership of the domain name registration and entity authentication, the legal, physical and operational existence of the entity is verified. This type of certificate usually takes a few days to several weeks to receive. It shows the padlock, HTTPS, business name, and business country in the address bar to dimmish being mistaken for a spam website.

How Will You Know a Site Has an SSL Certificate?

There are four visual clues:

1. A locked Padlock to the left of a URL
2. https URL prefix instead of http
3. A trust seal (with certificate valid as all certificates do expire after a certain period)
4. A green address bar (when an EV SSL certificate is issued)

From the above information, we, Sino Soft recommend that any individual or organization that registers a domain or hosts their website with us, they need at lease a domain validated certificate.

Get your DV SSL certificate today!