What is an SSL/TLS Certification?

SSL - Secure Socket Layer

TLS - Transport Layer Security

• These are Encryption Tools.
• Website that start with http:// or https:// with a little green padlock are the end products of a SSL/TLS layer

What's the importance of SSL/ TSL?

• Make an encrypted and secure link that streams any data that may exchange between a viewers web browser and your website.
• it blocks out any third-parties from looking at or stealing the information.
• Websites that do not have a SSL/TLS layer and has an unsecured http:// layer, any third parties can view and take the information that passes between the two sites leading to risk of data breaches of information like usernames, passwords, or credit card numbers passing from your customer’s browser to your site.

The Difference and History of SSL and TLS

• SSL is the predecessor to today’s TLS certification. Netscape debuted SSL in 1995, and it was originally called SSL 2.0 (SSLv2). This encryption software was upgraded and replaced in 1996 by SSL 3.0 (SSLv3) when Netscape found several large vulnerabilities and holes.
• SSL 3.0 was the main encryption tool until 1999 when TLS was debuted. It was marketed as the newest version of SSL, and the TLS encryption tool was heavily based on SSL 3.0’s encryption tool.
• Today, TLS is currently on TLS version 1.2 and 1.3. It is important to note that you don’t have to dump your SSL certification for a new TLS certification. They’re both valid and accepted, and most people tend to use the term SSL certification as an umbrella term to cover both TLS and SSL certifications because it’s more familiar.

Why You Need a SSL/TLS Certification

In the past, you may not have needed to worry about have an SSL certification with your website. However, as more people started exploiting loopholes to weak encryption, Google started to take it seriously. In 2014, they informed webmasters that SSL was going to be incorporated in as one of their ranking factors. Trying to give your websites a boost to get them high rankings with Google is an insanely competitive market, and having an SSL certificate for your website is a quick and easy way to accomplish this.

In 2017, Google went a step further to ensure that more webmasters complied with having a securely encrypted security layer. They released a statement announcing that that would mark “any sites that begin with http:// that collect passwords or credit card numbers as not secure.”

As you depend on a healthy website traffic flow to keep your page ranking higher on Google and bringing you income, this is the last thing you want people to see when they click on your website. It’s enough to drive your potential customers away for fear of identity theft or a data breach.

Different Types of SSL/TLS Certificates

There are three common types of this encryption certification available, and each one does something slightly different for the website it protects.

Domain-Validated SSL (DV)

A domain-validated SSL certificate is the most common type available. They’re also commonly referred to as a low assurance certificate, and they’re known as being the standard type of SSL certification vendors issue. This type of certification comes with automated validation, and it only makes sure that the specific domain name is registered and that the administrator approves the SSL certification request.

The webmaster can confirm this type of validation by configuring a DNS record for the specific site or by email. It takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours from start to finish, and it’s better suited for internal systems.

Organization-Validated SSL (OV)

An organization-validated SSL certificate is another common type you’ll see a lot. This type of certification is commonly called a high assurance certificate. The validation process is more involved, and actual agents are required to validate the domain’s owner along with information about the particular organization. This includes the organization’s name and address including the state, country, and city.

This certification has a slightly longer processing time because the agents will require proof of all of this information, and it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to complete from start to finish. Business and companies are the entities that use this type of encryption certification the most.

Extended Validation SSL (EV)

This is the newer type of SSL certification, and it has one of the most in-depth validation processes available. When you get this type of certification, agents will check that the business is a working, legal entity. You’ll also have to provide them with proof that you own the particular domain.

However, if you do all of this and get this certification, your website will display the green padlock that represents security. It can boost your customer’s confidence that everything is encrypted and secure. This can take a few days to a few weeks to complete, and it is recommended for all e-commerce businesses.

SSL/TLS Certifications for Multiple Properties

Single-Name

If you get a single-name SSL certification, but you have multiple domains to protect, it’ll only work on one. For example, if you got a single-name SSL for cookietime.com, it wouldn’t secure baking.cookietime.com.

Multi-Domain SSL Certificates

This type of certification can simultaneously protect upwards of 210 different domains under a single SSL certification.

Wildcard SSL Certifications

This type of certification lets you secure an unlimited number of subdomains that all come from the same root domain under one SSL certification. For example, you want to secure wwww.cookietime.com and any subdomains you may have. You can use the Wildcard SSL certification with the request of *.cookietime.com listed as the site’s common name. This Wildcard certification would then protect www.cookietime.com, baking.cookietime.com, and so on.

What a SSL/TLS Certification can do for Your Website

There are many benefits to having a SSL/TLS certification, and we’ll talk about the most common ones.

Authentication

You also get authentication in addition to security with a SSL/TLS certification. It ensures that you’re sending your information a legitimate server and not someone who is trying to steal your information. Your customers will be sending their sensitive information across the internet and through several different computers, and any one of these several computers could be an imposter that tries to trick them into giving out their sensitive information.

When you have a SSL/TLS certification in place, any sensitive information is unreadable by these other computers, and this protects their information. You won’t have to worry about your customers having a data breach when they use your site because that’s a fast way to lose business and sink in the ratings.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance

If your customers purchase things from your site or if they input their credit card information for any reason, you’re required by the Payment Card Industry to have a SSL/TLS certification to stay in compliance. This is one of the audits your site has to pass in order to take and handle sensitive credit card information.

Security

The biggest and most obvious reason why you’d want to have a SSL/TLS certification is increased security. It encrypts any sensitive information that you or your customers send across the internet so only the person you intend to read it can. This is extremely important because any information you input travels from browser to browser until it reaches the destination server.

If your information doesn’t have this encryption, any computer that is between your starting point and the destination server can see all of your information as it travels along. This includes passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and usernames. When it is encrypted, it’s unreadable to everyone except the destination server, and this can prevent things like identity theft.

Trust

Today, browsers and websites give visual cues that quickly let your site’s visitors know that it’s secure. These visual cues come in the form of the green padlock or a green address bar. If your customers trust your website, they’re more liable to purchase items or products from it.

It can also help to prevent common phishing attacks. A phishing attack occurs when someone sends your customers an email and falsely claims to be your company in an attempt to get your customer to go to their website by clicking on a link in the email. As you can’t duplicate a SSL/TLS certification, your customers will be less likely to fall into this trap.