What is SSL?

Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is an encryption-based internet security protocol. Developed in 1995, by Netscape to ensure privacy, authentication, and data integrity of any form of communication over the internet. SSL is the predecessor to the current TLS encryption used today.

Any website that implements SSl/TLS, has “HTTPS” in its URL instead of “HTTP”.

How does SSL/TLS work?

To ensure a high degree of privacy, SSL encrypts all the data that is transmitted through the web. This refers to anyone who tries to interrupt the data flow, will only be able to see a distorted mix of characters that will be impossible to read.

SSL started an authentication process called a handshake between two communicating devices to make sure that both the devices are really who they claim to be.

SSL also digitally signs data to provide data integrity, verifying that the data is tampered with before reaching its intended recipient.
There have been different versions of SSL, with better security every time. The SSL was updated to TLS in 1999.

Why is SSL/TLS important?

Initially, all the data on the web was used to be transmitted in the form of plaintext, something that anyone could read if he intercepted the message. For instance, if a user visited a shopping website/ an online store, placed an order, and entered his credit card details on the website, then that sensitive information about that consumer will travel across the internet unprotected.

SSL was a solution to this problem, by providing protection and privacy to the user. SSL makes any data that flows on the internet from a user’s end to a web server, shown in the form of garbled mix characters, if intercepted by any attacker. The user’s credit card details are safe then, and are only visible to the shopping website where he has entered it.

In addition to that, SSL also protects from any sort of cyber attacks. It authenticates the web servers, which is essentially important to prevent attackers from tricking users and stealing their sensitive information.

Are SSL and TLS the same thing?

SSL is the immediate predecessor of another protocol named TLS (Transport Layer Security). In 1999, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) suggested an update to SSL. Since then, IETF was solely responsible for the TLS and further new versions of it. Netscape was no longer involved and the name was changed from SSL to TLS. There were minor differences between the last version of SSL(3.0) and the first version of TLS, the name change was applied only to signify the ownership.

Since then, they are interchangeably used and confused generally. Some people still use the term “SSL” to refer to “TLS”, while others use the term “SSL/TLS encryption” because SSL is still better known than TLS.

Is SSL still up to date?

SSL last updated in 1996 to SSL 3.0 and it’s no longer encouraged to be used. Several vulnerabilities are reported in the SSL protocol, and not recommended by the security experts. Currently, web browsers no longer support SSL at all.

TLS is the most stable and advanced encryption protocol that is being implemented online, although it’s still often confused with “SSL encryption”. Most people still get confused about the SSL and TLS while finding security solutions. Any vendor who is selling SSL services these days, is actually selling TLS protection services, which is a common industry practice now for the past 20 years. But since generally people still look online with the term “SSL protection”, the term is still categorized as the most related one on the product pages.

What is an SSL certificate?

SSL certification (technically a “TLS certification”) is required for websites that want to implement SSL protection. The security certificate is like an ID card or a badge that proves someone’s online identity and who they are. SSL certificates are stored and displayed on the web by a website’s or application’s server.

A website’s public key is the most important part of SSL certification. The public key makes encryption and authentication possible. A user’s device recognizes the public key and uses it to establish secure encryption keys with the web server. While on the server side, the web server also has a private key that is well protected; the private key decrypts the data that was initially encrypted by the public key.

Only certificate authorities are responsible for providing SSL certificates.

Types of SSL certificates:

There are various types of SSL certificates. One certificate can apply to a single website or several websites, depending on the type:

Single-domain: A single-domain SSL certificate applies to only one domain (a “domain” is the name of a website, like www.hosttechno.com).

Wildcard: Like a single-domain SSL certificate, a wildcard SSL certificate applies to only one domain. But, it also includes that domain’s sub-domains. For example, a wildcard certificate could be applied to www.hosttechno.com, blog.hosttechno.com, and cart.hosttetchno.com, while a single-domain certificate could only cover the first.

Multi-domain: As the name suggests, multi-domain SSL certificates can apply to multiple unrelated domains.

SSL certificates also have different validation levels. A validation level is like a background check, and the level changes according to coverage of the check.

Domain Validation: This is the least-strict level of validation, and the cheapest. This is usually opted by businesses that want to only give proof of their control over the domain.

Organization Validation: This is a more hands-on process: The certificate authority will directly contact the person or business for a certificate request. This kind of a certificate is more trustworthy for users.

Extended Validation: It needs a full background check of an organization before the SSL certificate is issued to it.

Need an SSL certificate?

Hosttechno offers Positive SSL, Comodo SSL, SSL Wildcard and Comodo EV SSL.

For more information regarding SSL certificates, contact us at info@hosttechno.com and for any kind of technical support, email us at support@hosttechno.com. We have an experienced team to walk you through the process and make this transition as smooth as possible.