Malicious cyber intrusions are common today with the increasing Internet use by individuals and business sectors. Cyber security professionals keep protecting the websites, servers, computer systems, and smart devices against various cybersecurity threats. Your small or startup business needs a website to attract more customers. Hence, you build and launch a website, but what if all your efforts are wasted if someone hacks it. With an SSL certificate, you can take appropriate measures to secure your online communication through encryption.
Have you ever noticed an icon in the shape of a padlock at the beginning of the website address? It shows that you can safely access the website, and any information you share on it is encrypted and secure. A website with an SSL certificate will feature an extra ‘s’ in the word ‘HTTP’, making it ‘HTTPS’. Being a small data file, an SSL certificate cryptographically creates an encrypted link between a browser and web server.
For a business website, purchasing an SSL certificate offers several benefits. Before dealing with the benefits, it is essential to know, “What is an SSL certificate?”.
What is an SSL certificate?
The term SSL stands for ‘Secure Socket Layer’, which is a digital certificate that authenticates a website and allows an encrypted connection. With the website protected by SSLs, you ensure that the connection is secure and safe. In other words, you use a kind of encryption technology to ensure that any communication between the web server and the users’ web browser is protected.
A website with an SSL certificate will display a padlock icon and an “HTTPS” address to indicate that the connection to the website or online store is secure and only encrypted data is sent. Web users today want to protect their highly-sensitive information like social security numbers, credit card numbers, and passwords when buying a product or service. With a secured website, you can attract more visitors to your online store or website and improve its search engine rankings.
With an SSL certificate, your website will gain several advantages, and some prime ones are:
1. Authenticates and encrypts information conveyed via a website
An SSL certificate provides secure encryption of data. All communication made on your website between the web server and user browser is unprotected with no encryption. It increases the risk of someone stealing confidential information. Data encryption becomes essential if you run an online store and customers buy products by paying online. There is a chance of their card details being hacked by someone online.
Thus, encryption is critical to protect sensitive information and save the data from someone breaching it and altering it. The SSL protection also authenticates your website, making it trustworthy.
2. Ensures that your website is secure
You can protect your e-commerce store or website and the data by investing in any of the suitable SSL types like Standard, Premium, or Wild Card and subscription plans. By subscribing to an SSL type plan, you can have all the visitors’ personal details such as login details, email addresses, credit card details, and contact information protected.
3. Helps you receive payments
Any online store or website based in Australia or any other country should have an SSL certification to sell products or services and receive card payments online. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS requires an e-commerce store to safeguard customers’ credit or debit card details through a proper encryption system. A trusted provider and help you with an appropriate SSL certificate, which is, in turn, checked for authenticity by the PCI DSS.
An online store or website should ensure a minimum 128-bit encryption strength. You can also find the web hosting providers providing 256-bit encrypted SSL certificates for better website protection.
A web hosting provider can help you with a suitable SSL certificate at a cheap price, which can be set up on any domain and backed by 24-hour tech support. Moreover, it ensures the safety and protection of your website.
