Why You Need Secure Web Hosting – What Is The Best Service To Use

Find out what Secure Sockets Layer is and how it can benefit you:-

The World Wide Web is not as safe as it used to be which is due to the amount of data and information online that can be read by other people. There are a large number of people called hackers who uncover secret and confidential data about the people who visit your site. It is even possible for them to obtain information such as credit card details or passwords. Many hackers are able to offer a version of your own website and use this to trick other web users. Their version of your site can be hosted on their own server. This is done to obtain details from them. It is possible to battle these people and this is why SSL or Secure Sockets Layer was created.

Designed in 1994 by Netscape, SSL Certificate has become a security technology that is viewed as the standard around the world. It works by creating a link that is encrypted between the web server and the browser. This makes it possible to secure any information that travels between the browser and server. This process is utilized by a great number of providers of e-Business services as they recognize they need to protect their customers’ details. They also know that they have a duty to protect the confidentiality of any shopping that occurs online.

The Certificate for SSL:-

A SSL Certificate offered by the Certification Authorities (also known as CA) is essential for any web server that wishes to use the protocol of the Secure Sockets Later. Many questions will be asked about your firm and its identity and from here you can choose to run the SSL on your own web server. Two cryptographic keys are generated, one is a Public Key, one is a Private Key, both originate from the web server. The public key does not allow backdoor entry or hidden methods. The key is held in a data file with the rest of your information; this data file is called a CSR, a Certificate Signing Request. The next task will be to submit this CSR. The CA will then go about verifying the information contained within the CSR and this will undertake the SSL Certificates process. After this, another certificate from SSL will be provided and this certificate will hold all the details and information to enable SSL use. The certificate for SSL is linked by the web server to the Private Key. This means a secure and coded link will be created between the visitors’ browser and your very own site.

Although these issues can be troublesome, customers are unable to see any of the issues and protocols. There is the provision of the key logo to their browser which guarantees a user they are covered by SSL and an encrypted session. Customers can see their details and SSL certificate by clicking on the lock icon which is provided on the screen. On the whole, SSL Certificates are granted to respected and accountable individuals and companies.

Information contained within the SSL certificate includes company name, the name of your domain, the city, an actual address, pin code, state and country. There is also the addition of the expiration date when the Certificate cannot be used after. There are also other details pertaining to the Certification Authority, the firm that provides the Certificate. If you have a SSL certificate, when you attempt to connect to a secure site, this will find the SSL certificate which is used by the site. A verification process that the SSL certificate of the other site is a genuine one to be trusted and is being used by the site that it has been allocated to. Similarly, the expiration date of the other site will be examined. If at any point an error is returned, a warning message will be provided to the user.

There is no doubt that the golden padlock has been accepted by many customers. It is viewed as a symbol of trust for the site. There is little doubt that the e-Business company can use this as an ideal opportunity to encourage trust and additional expenditure from customers and also turn visitors into customers. There are numerous shopping carts or sites that take information from customers and a large percentage utilize the SSL certificates. Nevertheless, users should recall that if confidential information is sent by email, this information is not naturally secured.

The new functions:-

The SSL v3 has been recently introduced and is an improved version of upon SSL v2. It has been added with SHA-1 based ciphers and provides support for certificate authentication. There were certain flaws in the SSL v2, where indistinguishable cryptographic keys were used for encryption as well as for message authentication. Moreover, the former version had no protection for the handshake, which implies a “Man-in-the-middle downgrade attack” could even go unnoticed.

Another improvement has come with the Transport Layer Security taking over from the Secure Sockets Layer. The TSL has been clearly influenced by SSL and has taken many uses and styles that are synonymous with Microsoft and Netscape browsers in addition to a great number of products utilizing Web server capabilities. Today, it is common for SSL to utilize public and private key encryption that is able to provide a digital certificate.

Do you require an SSL Certificate:-

* If privacy of others and yourself as well as a need to have trust in your site is important, then the purchase of the SSL certificate is vital.

* If you have an online store or accept online orders through credit cards you will need an SSL Certificate in order to safeguard the confidential information of your customers.

* It is also advisable to get an SSL Certificate in case you have offices, which share confidential information over an intranet.

For businesses that have a number of partners who share and provide information on an extranet system, having an SSL certificate is able to offer more protection from hackers.

* If anyone in your firm utilizes an extranet, the SSL certificate is an additional layer of security from those wanting to hack your site.

Some helpful information about purchasing SSL Certificates:

* The Certificate Authority market is quite diverse, but it is better to purchase an SSL Certificate that meets your requirements as well as budget. You can find a number of Secure Sockets Layer Certificate in different price range. The Open Directory Project identifies 22 third parties and offers over 20 root certificates that are included into Firefox and Internet Explorer. However, due to its price, it is dominated only by a few major firms.

* Netcraft conducted a survey in June 2005 to enlist the largest vendors providing SSL Certificates. The Security Space made similar tallies in January 2007, according to which the major vendors are Equifax via its GeoTrust subsidiary (www.equifax.com), Verisign Secure Site Pro with EV plus through its Thawte subsidiary (www.verisign.com) , and Comodo (www.comodo.com).

It can be seen that depending on what form of measurement is used, these six providers cover 95% of the market in this industry. The largest market share is held by Verisign with about 72% market share with Comodo coming next with around 18%. GeoTrust True BusinessID has around 3.4% market share and GoDaddy and Entrust contain about 1% and 2.5% of the market share. The remaining providers comprise about 3 or 4% on average of the market.

About author: Gregory Trune is a staff writer for WebHostingMadness.com and web hosting industry blogger. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews and ratings of the top web hosting companies each month.

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